The Princess of War
by KathleenvLeFiles
Summary: It's been four years since Percy and his friends saved the Olympians, and the existence of the world, from Gaia and her giant children. Now, there is a new group of demigods who must face a whole new kind of enemy. The only problem is, this enemy is Egyptian. The Greeks and Romans must join the Egyptians to defeat the enemy, and there is only one girl who can bring them together.
1. Chapter One

**CHAPTER ONE**

My name is Tamara Hope, and I have an unusual life. I have no clue who my parents are; my father didn't stick around long enough to learn of my existence, and my mother dumped me in an orphanage when I was around one year old. My entire life has consisted of being bounced around from one foster home to the next. I've never had a real family, nor any real friends. It seems like every single kid at every single school I've attended believes that I'm a freak that needs to be avoided. That is except for Tina Gonzalez. I was taken into a new foster home in New York about a month ago, along with Tina. When I had first heard I was going to a home with another foster kid, I had been so nervous. Some of the kids in the foster care programs can be ugly and make life miserable. Not Tina though. She was nice to me and we had become friends almost overnight.

I was finally happy at this foster home. The couple who had taken us in were around their forties and had never had kids. They were nice and really cared for us. I had Tina who, within the last month, had become my best friend, and I was finally putting in an effort at school. I was happy with my life, but little did I know that it was about to be flipped upside down.

"Tamara, hurry or we'll be late for school!" I heard Tina yell through the bathroom door.

"I'm coming, just hold on!" I put my long red hair up in a pony-tail and quickly brushed my teeth. When I came out of the bathroom, Tina was waiting for me at the front door with my backpack in hand.

"The last day of school and you're going to make us late," she teased as we rushed out the door.

We made it to the sidewalk just as our bus was about to leave.

"You girls are really pushing it," our driver, a mid-aged woman with crooked yellow teeth and greasy gray hair said to us.

I didn't bother giving an excuse. Nobody really cared anyway. Tina and I quickly sat down in our usual seats in the back of the bus. We talked quietly, trying not to get noticed. Like every other school I had been to, the kids at this one thought that Tina and I were both freaks.

When we got to the school, we waited until all of the kids were off the bus. Then we quickly jumped out before our driver could take off again. As Tina and I were walking into the building, I noticed that someone was watching us from a distance. It was a woman wearing dark clothing, despite the heat, with sleek black hair pulled into a pony-tail and yellow-green eyes. She stood underneath an oak tree and watched our every move. I nudged Tina and jerked my head in the direction of the woman.

"Is she watching us?" Tina whispered to me. "Why would she be watching us?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to find out. She doesn't look very friendly."

I stared at the woman, trying to figure out why she found us interesting, before looking away and putting her out of my head. She was just watching us. No harm in there, right? It wasn't the weirdest thing I had seen in my time spent in New York.

When we stepped through the doors of the school, kids glared at us and started murmuring as they always did when we walked in the hallways.I kept my head down, trying to ignore the heat rising to my cheeks. It was stupid that I felt embarrassed everyday at school for doing absolutely nothing except pretending to be invisible, but I was always humiliated anyway.

As I walked past him, the quarterback and captain of the football team stuck his foot out, causing me to trip. I was about to land on my face, and make a fool out of myself in the process, when I felt some sort of force underneath me, holding me up. It was only a few inches off the ground so no one would notice, but I was definitely not on the floor. I quickly pushed myself up and rubbed my temple. There was no possible way that I alone had been defying the laws of gravity and floated in mid-air, so I told myself I had been hallucinating and followed Tina to our first class of the day, trying to block out the mocking laughs that followed us.

By lunch, I was tired and grumpy. The teachers in my classes were convinced that summer meant more time to do homework, so they had loaded me down with reading assignments. In history, while I was taking my final of everything from World War II to the present day, some girl had stuck pink bubble gum in my hair, which had resulted in me pulling quite a lot of hair out of my head as I tried to get it out. And then in P.E., the class had decided to play dodge ball, except everyone, including my own teammates, had only seemed interested in hitting me.

As Tina and I walked over to our usual table in the very back of the cafeteria, I noticed that the creepy woman we had seen earlier this morning was watching us again. She stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, her eyes trained us. I got a nervous feeling in my stomach. Tina and I sat down and I whispered to her, "We're being watched again."

"By the same woman?" Tina said back.

"Yeah. She's over by the entrance."

Tina glanced back at the door and, when she saw the woman, tensed up. She looked back at me, her amber-brown eyes full of worry. "What should we do?" she asked.

I wasn't really sure. I didn't like the idea of talking to the woman, but then again, I was also curious as to why she was so interested in us. "We should probably ignore her. She looks like she wants to kill us or something," I decided. "And besides, what can she do to us? We're in a public place surrounded my a lot of witnesses."

Tina nodded and tried to focus on her lunch, but both of us were too tense to eat. I glanced back at the entrance and saw that the woman was walking towards us.

"She's coming our way," I whispered to Tina.

"What do we do?" she whispered back.

I weighed our options. We could sit here and wait for her, we could confront her, or we could run. Judging by the death stare she was giving us, I was going with the latter idea.

Tina and I grabbed our bags and, as quickly as we could without raising too much attention, we tried to walk along the wall of the cafeteria, hoping the woman wouldn't notice us. It didn't work. Tina and I were almost to the door when it slammed shut on its own. I tried to pull it open, but it was locked.

"Thought you could get away from me?" someone said loudly in a way that reminded me of a cat's purr.

I turned and saw the woman standing about twenty-feet away, a malicious grin on her face. Her teeth didn't look normal though. They were long and pointed, like a cat's.

"I've been watching you both for a while now," she said in that voice again, slowly walking towards us.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Tina asked.

"I'm an agent for my Lord. Don't worry, you'll meet him soon enough, if you come quietly."

By now, the whole cafeteria was watching us, their eyes moving back and forth between me, Tina, and the woman.

"We don't have any intentions of going anywhere with you," I said back at her.

She grinned, like that was exactly what she wanted to hear. "Alright, if you insist." She took off the black trench coat she had been wearing and let it fall to the floor. Her body changed. Her legs shortened until she was standing on all fours. Her hands and feet started morphing into huge paws the size of my face, with long black claws. Golden fur was rapidly covering her entire body. Through all of this, her face stayed the same. As she was morphing, the kids in the cafeteria screamed and started running to the door and I pulled Tina out of the way so we wouldn't get run over. The panicked kids tugged, kicked, ran into, and punched the door, but it wouldn't budge.

I wasn't quite sure who the woman really was or why she wanted us, but I understood enough to know that she was a sphinx, a mythological monster, and she probably intended to kill us all. I didn't really have time dwell on the fact that sphinxes were supposed to be _myths,_ and I shouldn't have even been in the situation to begin with.

The sphinx slowly made her way towards us, knowing that she had all the time in the world; we couldn't going anywhere. She crawled up to us until she was about five feet away. She shifted her weight to her back legs and said, "Are you sure you don't want to come with me quietly? I'll even leave at least two kids alive!" She said it like it was a great offer.

I looked around and grabbed a lunch tray off a table and held it in front of me as a pathetic shield. Tina ran behind the lunch-line counter and grabbed a long metal spoon. The sphinx sighed like our attempts at protection were tiresome before she launched herself at me. Her claws looked like knives, and her teeth pointed to tear me apart. I stood rooted in my spot, too afraid to move. Then I realized that if I didn't do something quickly, she was going to kill me. I slammed my tray into her face and sent her flying into a table. There was a sound of metal sliding along the ground as the tables screeched across the floor. The sphinx picked herself up, ketchup and mustard in her fur and a milkshake oozing all over her hair. She roared at me angrily. I stood my ground, gripping my tray. The sphinx was about to launch herself at me again when metal utensils came flying from behind the counter. Tina threw spoons, forks, and knives, all of which pelted the sphinx. The spoons and forks looked like they hurt, but the knives did some real damage. They cut into her fur, sending glowing golden liquid out of the monster. She turned and roared at Tina, who responded by sending a butcher knife into the sphinx's face. It cut her cheek and the sphinx yowled with pain.

As all of this was happening, the kids behind me kept pounding on the door, even more frantic then before. The boys were trying to ram their way through the door. Most of the girls were screaming and crying. A few sensible kids were on their phones, trying to get help.

Watching the other kids was a mistake. While I wasn't looking, the sphinx had pulled herself together and was crawling towards me.

"Tamara, look out!" Tina cried.

I looked too late, and the heavy monster jumped on me, pushing me to the f1oor. She stood over me, grinning.

"You will make a wonderful prize for my master," she said, purring with happiness.

Tina was throwing more utensils, along with plates and bowls, but the sphinx ignored them, focused on me. She growled and opened her jaws, and I got a good look at all of her very sharp teeth. I was pretty sure I was whimpering as the monster's mouth came closer to my face, ready to tear me apart. Suddenly, the sphinx yelped. Her eyes went wide with surprise and she crumpled to golden dust. I sat there, covered in her remnants and breathing heavily. Standing next to the back door of the cafeteria was Archer Mason, a tall boy with plain-brown hair and light-green eyes. He held a bow in his hands and had a quiver of arrows was strapped to his back. Next to me was a long wooden arrow with a very sharp point at the end.

"Archer, what—what's going on?" I asked.

He ran over to me and helped me up. "There isn't time to explain. We have to go." He ran out of the cafeteria, and Tina and I followed him.

Now that the monster was dead, the spell she had set on the door had been released, and kids were running out of the cafeteria and into the school hallways, going crazy and telling everyone they met what they had seen. As we ran past them, I heard a girl telling a teacher, "There was this huge dog sir! It was like the size of a horse and it had glowing eyes and huge teeth! It was rabid! And it started attacking these two girls—them, right there! The dog attacked them! And then those girls trashed the cafeteria!" She pointed at me and Tina as we ran past her.

The teacher yelled at us to stop, but Archer ignored him. We ran out of the school and into the parking lot. Archer led us over to an old, beaten down green Jeep and said, "Get in, now!"

Tina launched herself into the front seat and I climbed into the back. In the distance, I could hear the wail of sirens. The police were coming, and I had a feeling that somehow Tina and I would get the blame for what had happened.

Kids and teachers poured out of the school as Archer backed his Jeep up and peeled out of the parking lot. I saw some kids snap pictures of the truck's license plate. Not good.

Archer sped down the street, driving like a maniac as he tried to avoid other cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists.

"Archer, what on earth is going on?" I yelled at him when we got onto the freeway.

He looked back at me and sighed. "It's a really long story."

"I want an explanation," Tina demanded.

Archer sighed, like he was trying to figure out exactly what to say. "That monster that attacked you was a sphinx," he started. "I know you think that sphinxes are just myths, but they aren't. Greek mythology is real, and we're a part of it."

"What do you mean 'we're a part of it.'?" I asked cautiously.

"Okay, you've heard about the Greek gods, correct? The Olympians?" Archer waited for me and Tina to nod before continuing. "Well, it appears that both of you are children of a god in some way, or at least a descendent of one."

I sat there in shock, trying to absorb what he was saying. I was the child of a god? That seemed impossible, unreal, and I wanted to ask if Archer was from Crazyville.

"Where do you come into all of this, and where are you taking us?" I asked him.

"I'm taking you to Camp Half-Blood. It's a camp for demigods, children of gods. Tina, last year you got on our radar, and they sent me to go undercover to protect you from monsters. Now they want you to come to the camp. Tamara, I _think_ you're a demigod. You show some characteristics of being one, but you don't attract nearly as much attention as most demigods do. I don't see any harm in bringing you to safety though. No demigod is truly safe in the world."

I sat there, trying to decide how I felt. This whole time, Archer had been spying on us? Acting as our bodyguard? I didn't know if I was grateful or angry.

"How did I get on your camp's radar?" Tina asked.

"Last summer, when you went surfing in Florida, do you remember that hurricane that hit the beach?"

Tina sucked in a breath. I wasn't sure what this was about. Tina had never told me this story, but it seemed to scare her.

"I was surfing, and these girls kept getting in my way and taking my waves," Tina recalled. "I finally got really mad when one of them knocked me off my board and then tried to run me over."

Archer nodded. "That's right. And then that hurricane came out of nowhere."

"Yeah, and a lot of people got hurt and those girls, it took Search and Rescue a week to find them," Tina said quietly.

"But you didn't get hurt at all," Archer said. "Did you ever wonder how?"

Tina looked at Archer with wide eyes. "Are—are you suggesting that _I_ created that hurricane?"

"Yes," Archer said. "When we saw that story on the news, we immediately sent people out to find you. But when we got to Florida, you had already been moved to New York."

"Whoa, hold on! Time out!" I cried. "How is it possible for Tina to create a hurricane?"

"Demigods inherit powers from their parent. Judging by how big that hurricane was, we figured that Tina was a very important demigod that could hurt a lot of people if she didn't control her powers."

"So you were sent to come get me," Tina said, putting the pieces together.

"That's right," Archer confirmed.

Tina and I traded a look. Did we want to trust Archer? He had seemed like a nice kid in school, but what if that had been an act? And did we really want to believe that Greek gods were real? Then again, we had been attacked by a sphinx, which provided plenty of evidence.

"What about our foster parents?" Tina asked.

"The camp has sent them a letter posing as the school saying that you guys were enrolled to go to a summer camp. You can call them once we get to camp. We'll be there in about an hour if you want to get some sleep."

I told myself that no way was I going to fall asleep, not when a boy who I barely knew was driving us to some strange place. But, try as I might, my body just wasn't in sync with my brain, and slowly I felt my eyelids close as I drifted off into a deep sleep.


	2. Chapter Two

**CHAPTER TWO**

"Tamara, wake up. We're here."

I opened my eyes to the sound of Tina's voice. The Jeep was parked, and I didn't hear any sounds of busy New York traffic. I got out of the Jeep and blinked at the sunlight. Archer had parked the car on the side of a dirt road, next to fields upon fields of strawberries. I turned in a full circle, trying to find the camp, but it wasn't there. Panic began building up in my chest. Had Archer been lying to us after all?

"Come on," he said, leading the way up a hill and into a forest.

We followed him, walking in silence, not really sure what was going to happen. We walked along a nearly hidden trail, flanked by huge pine trees. It was calm and peaceful. Birds sang cheerfully, little forest animals ran across the path. It certainly seemed like a good location for a summer camp.

We got to the top of the hill, and I jumped back. A huge purple dragon was there, curled around a towering pine tree and snoring happily. Hanging in the tree was what looked like a golden cape.

"Um, Archer, is that a _dragon?_ Why, and how, did you guys get a dragon? _"_ I asked nervously.

"This is Peleus. Don't worry, he only attacks enemies and people who try to take the Golden Fleece."

Tina made a choking sound. "You mean, the actual Golden Fleece? The mythical object that can bring blessings to anything?"

"Among other things, yeah," Archer said. "Around ten years ago, an enemy of the camp poisoned this tree, which contained the spirit of a daughter of Zeus. She died on this hill trying to protect her friends from monsters. As she was dying, her dad turned her into a pine tree and her spirit protected the camp. When the tree got poisoned, the camp's magical borders started dying, putting the whole camp in danger. So Percy Jackson, a son of Poseidon, and his friends went on a quest to retrieve the fleece from a Cyclops and to save their friend."

"This is crazy," I said, feeling a little light headed.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's a lot to take in. Believe me, I know. Come on, you need to meet Chiron."

"I'm guessing he's the actual centaur from the stories, correct?" I asked as Archer led us down the other side of the hill.

He laughed and nodded.

Camp Half-Blood was huge. As we walked down the hill, I saw a volleyball pit on my right. Kids were playing a game with people that had the body of a man from the hips up, but their legs were covered with fur and they had hooves for feet. Past the pit was a Grecian-style building where kids wearing aprons worked on statues and paintings. To our left was a blue house that was at least three-stories high. It had a wooden porch that wrapped around the whole house, and standing on the porch were two people, and a third person was sitting in a wheelchair. All of them were looked at us as we approached.

"Archer, you're safe! And you brought two demigods with you!" the man in the wheelchair said when we were close enough.

Archer nodded. "Everyone, this is Tamara Hope and Tina Gonzalez. Girls, this is Chiron, director of the camp, and . . . Percy? Annabeth? What are you guys doing here?"

I studied the boy, Percy, wondering if it was the same Percy from Archer's story. He was tall, at least six-feet, with muscled arms and legs. He had wind-blown black hair, tan skin, and sea-green eyes. He smiled a goofy grin and waved. The girl next to him was pretty, but kind of intimidating. She had long honey-blond hair pulled back into a pony-tail, an athlete's build, and startling storm-gray eyes. She looked us over, analyzing us. In one hand, she held a bronze shield. The other hand was interlaced with Percy's.

"What's up, Archer? And nice to meet you guys. I'm Percy Jackson and this is my fiancee, Annabeth Chase."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"What are you guys doing here?" Archer asked again.

Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron traded glances.

"It's nothing earth-shattering," Percy said in tense tone. "we're just staying here for the weekend."

"Archer, why don't you give Tamara and Tina the tour? Percy, Annabeth, and I have some things to discuss," Chiron interjected.

Archer got the message: they wanted privacy. He waved at the group and walked away.

"It was nice meeting you!" Tina said as we jogged after Archer.

Once we were a safe distance away from the house, I asked Archer, "What's going on with those three? And I thought Chiron was a centaur?"

Archer waved his hand dismissively. "Chiron has a magical wheelchair to make him look human sometimes. And I'm not really sure what's going on. Percy and Annabeth just came to visit camp last week. I'm surprised to see them here again so soon. I think the gods are in trouble."

I frowned at that. How could the gods be in trouble? They were, well, gods.

We followed Archer over a small creek that lazily wound itself around the rest of the camp. On the other side of the creek was a green field where twenty cabins sat. It was the oddest set of buildings I had ever seen. They were all different styles, shapes, sizes, and colors. One looked like a regular summer camp cabin. Another one looked like a machine shop, metal smokestacks rising from the roof and puffing out smoke. Yet another cabin was built like a Greek building, but was painted purple and emitted smells of heavily used perfume.

"These are the cabins. Demigods are put into the cabin that their parent represents," Archer explained.

"How do we know which god is our parent?" Tina asked.

"By tonight at the campfire, you should be claimed. Sometimes it takes a while for the gods to pay attention to us, but Percy made a promise with them years ago that they have to claim their kids by the time they're thirteen."

I frowned. Both Tina and I were sixteen, and I had never been claimed by anyone.

"Which cabin is yours?" I asked.

"That golden one over there. It's Apollo's, the god of archery and music."

 _Music?_ I thought. I loved music, so maybe Apollo was my dad too.

Archer told us who each cabin represented. Then he led us around the various places of the camp. We saw the mess hall, where we would eat; the amphitheater, the rock climbing wall—complete with falling rocks and lava for extra fun!-, the sword arena, the stables, the armory, and the forge.

"This place is huge!" Tina said with wide eyes.

I agreed with her. I couldn't believe that no one had noticed this place.

In the distance, a horn was blown, resonating throughout the entire camp.

"Dinner time," Archer said. "I would invite you guys to eat with me, but newcomers go sit with the Hermes cabin. He's the only god friendly enough to allow unclaimed demigods to eat at his table."

We made our way back to the cabins where kids were lining up with their siblings. Tina and I walked over to the Hermes cabin, a bunch of kids who were telling jokes, stealing other demigod's stuff, and acting like idiots. I knew right away that Hermes wasn't my dad; I didn't fit in with these kids. We said hello to the cabin leader, got in line, and marched up to the mess hall. The mess hall was a plain platform, made out of stone. It didn't have a roof or walls, just a stone floor and four pillars rising up at each corner of the platform. Twenty wooden picnic tables were placed on the platform, one table for each cabin. A longer table was placed in the back, where Chiron and his camp staff sat. Percy and Annabeth were there, sitting at the table and talking with smiles on their faces. Chiron was standing next to them, out of his wheelchair. In centaur form, he had the body of a white stallion. He wore a bronze breast plate over an orange T-shirt, and he had a bow strapped to his back.

Once everyone was seated at their table, Chiron banged his hoof against the stone floor for silence.  
"I don't have many announcements, except that you all know it's capture the flag tonight. And please, don't set traps. I'm a bit tired of having to cut people down from the trees."  
The Hermes cabin laughed hysterically and congratulated each other on the success on what I assumed were their traps.  
Chiron clapped his hands and green people melted out of the trees, carrying platters of food. Hotdogs, hamburgers, pasta, pizza, salad, whatever you could think of, it was there. They set them on the tables and the demigods started filling their plates. I grabbed slices of pizza and a cupcake with bright-yellow frosting. Before, I hadn't really been all that hungry; the events of the day had overwhelmed me and left me without an appetite. But the smell of the food was so good, that I could ignore the elf-like green servers and eat. I was about to take bite of my food, when I noticed kids getting up from the tables and lining up behind bronze braziers placed around the mess hall.  
"What are you doing?" Tina asked a passing boy.  
"Offering food to the gods. It's a tradition we do at every meal," he said.  
"Offering burnt food up to the gods?" I questioned. "Some tradition."  
Tina and I grabbed our plates and lined up behind a brazier. When our turn came, I threw a part of my pizza into the fire. It went up in smoke, but it smelled like the air after it had rained, warm brownies, and flowers. It smelled so good that I suddenly understood why the gods liked it.  
Once dinner was over, I was feeling sleepy. Tina was right there with me. We kept nudging each other to keep from falling asleep. I wanted Chiron to dismiss us to our cabins, but instead he clapped his hands and the tables were magically filled with bronze weapons and armor.  
"You all know what time it is. Meet by the river in the forest in ten minutes."  
Tina and I stood there, not really knowing what to do. What kind of capture the flag game required weapons and armor? Thankfully, Archer walked up to help us. He rummaged through the pile of bronze and grabbed two breast plates and handed them to us.  
"Here, put these on, or you're going to get killed."  
Tina and I stared at Archer, mouths open and eyes wide. I thought he was being serious, until he cracked a smile and chuckled. I decided to I put the armor on anyway, like everybody else. I grunted with the weight of it; it was like thirty-pounds.  
"How are you supposed to walk in this, let alone fight in it?" Tina asked.  
Archer grinned at her. "You'll get used to it, don't worry." He then handed us bronze swords. "Tell me if those feel right."  
Tina grabbed her sword and nodded in approval. I grabbed mine and nearly dropped it.  
"Too heavy?" Archer asked.  
I nodded.  
He switched my sword out, and when that one didn't work he gave me another one. But all of the swords that I tried didn't feel right.  
"Well, just pick one. We have to hurry or we're going to be late."  
I grabbed a sword that had felt too light and we ran over to the forest, following the flow of demigods. The separate teams assembled on their assigned sides of the creek. Present were Percy and Annabeth, Percy on team blue and Annabeth on team red.

"Why are they on separate teams?" Tina asked.

Archer laughed. "Are you kidding me? Percy is one of the most powerful demigods ever! And Annabeth is Athena's daughter. No one is smarter than Annabeth. If you put those two on the same team, the game would be over in five seconds!" Archer led us over to the blue team's side.

"Okay, everyone gather around," Percy said. "We're going to have three groups. Group one will stay back and guard our flag. Group two, you're going to be a diversion. Group three will be the ones taking the flag. We have to time it perfectly though. So, divide yourselves."

Kids scrambled around as they tried to get into their preferred group. Tina ended up in group one, while I was put into group two.

"I'll try to come help everyone when I can, but I'm going to mostly be with group two, got it?" Percy said. "Now, go hide the flag somewhere that's easy to reach, but not in a common spot."

Two Hermes kids grinned at each other and nodded. They grabbed the blue flag and ran away.

"Campers!" Chiron yelled. "Get set! And, go!"

There was a roar from the demigods as they charged. Percy led us across the creek and into enemy territory. I stumbled in my heavy armor, trying to keep up. We charged straight at the red team and engaged in battle.

"This way!" Percy said, leading us to the right.

We ran as fast as we could, the other team on our heels. We ran past a huge pine tree and I saw the red flag hanging in a high branch. Some of the kids in our group hesitated, wanting to get the flag.

"Keep running!" Percy yelled.

Reluctantly, we kept going, leaving the flag behind. We made a huge circle around the tree, fooling the red team into thinking that we were going to come back for the flag. Once we made it to the tree again, the red flag was gone. We cheered and whooped, while the red team roared and put on more speed, trying to catch up with us. We ran over to our side, prepared to celebrate. But what we saw was a shock to all of us, and we all stumbled to a halt. The water that had once made up the river was now on the river bank. Members of both teams were soaking wet and were all staring at Tina, who stood in the dry river bed, not a single drop of water on her.

"Chiron, what happened?" Percy asked.

"Percy. . . ." Chiron said, not able to utter another word.

We all stared at Tina, who was standing there in shock, her hands trembling. Then, above her head, a green light appeared; a glowing trident.

Percy walked over to her slowly and stared at her. "You—your a daughter of Poseidon. You're my sister," he said.

Demigods all around us were murmuring, staring at Tina and pointing at the glowing trident.

All Tina could do was blink at Percy and just shake her head.


	3. Chapter Three

**CHAPTER THREE**

Percy didn't stick around. He turned on his heel and rushed away. Annabeth came out of the crowd and followed her to-be husband. Tina looked at me with helpless eyes. I turned and looked at Chiron.

"Could we go discuss this somewhere more private?" I asked him quietly.

He understood and nodded. "We'll meet at the Big House in five minutes. Everyone else," he said, addressing the others. "Go have your sing-along as usual."

I grabbed Tina's hand and pulled her along.

"Tamara, what's going to happen?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"I don't know, but everything's going to be okay."

"But Percy looked really mad," she whispered.

"Hey, he's probably just shocked. I don't think he was expecting _that_ to happen. It's going to be okay." I tried to calm Tina down. She was really freaked out, and I didn't blame her. Poseidon, according to the stories that I had heard, was a very powerful god, and Tina had just been claimed by him.

Annabeth was waiting for us on the porch of the Big House when we walked up. She was standing with her feet shoulder with the part and her arms crossed, guarding the door. Her posture was very intimidating, and I felt like hiding from her gaze.

"Is Percy alright?" Tina asked her.

"He's fine, just a little shocked and mad at Poseidon," she said curtly.

Tina lowered her gaze from Annabeth's, and I knew what she was thinking. Percy was mad at Poseidon because he now had a sister.

"I'm sorry," Tina whispered.

Annabeth's expression softened. "It's not you fault. And really, Percy shouldn't be this mad. He already has a Cyclops half-brother, who I guess is your now half-brother too."

Tina's face paled with shock and fear.

"Oh, don't worry! Tyson is really nice and sweet. And he'll be thrilled when he finds out he has a sister."

Tina could only manage a slight nod. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. When Percy calms down, he'll realize that you are going to be an amazing sister."

Behind us I could hear the clip-clop of hooves. We turned and looked at Chiron.

"Annabeth, run inside and get Percy would you?"

Annabeth disappeared and a minute later came out holding Percy's hand.

"Why didn't my dad tell me?" Percy muttered. "How could he keep this from me?"  
"Percy, I'm so sorry," Tina said. "I don't know what to say."  
Percy turned and looked at her, his sea-green eyes looking far away and distant.  
"I'm sorry, Tina. It really isn't that big of a deal. I—I'm just shocked. I didn't expect this."  
"Yes, it's quite a shock to us all," Chiron said. "But this may be for the best. Percy, Tina is the girl who caused that hurricane in Florida last summer. It's obvious that her powers are difficult to control. You'll be able to help her."  
Percy stood there, gripping Annabeth's hand and looking at Tina. Finally, he managed a small smile and said, "Sure, I'll help. We have a lot to catch up on anyway."  
Tina sighed with relief. Everyone else did as well. Percy's uneasiness had unsettled everyone. Why that was, I didn't know.  
"Alright, it's getting late. Tamara, Tina, you should head back to your cabins. You're going to want some rest for tomorrow," Chiron said.  
"Wait, so I have to sleep in the Poseidon cabin now?" Tina asked.  
"Yeah. Come on, I'll walk you down," Percy said.  
They walked away, talking quietly. I said goodnight to Annabeth and Chiron, and walked down the well-worn path that led to the cabins, staying a few paces back to give Tina and Percy some privacy.  
While I walked, I replayed the day in my head. It seemed unreal that a sphinx had attacked us, we had been taken to a demigod camp, and Tina had been claimed by Poseidon all in one day. I should have been bone tired, but I wasn't. My mind was reeling with the events of today. In the back of my mind, I wondered why I hadn't been claimed yet. Did my father really not care about me? Or was I just not powerful enough to be noticed? Archer had said he thought I was a demigod, but a very weak one. Compared to Tina, I felt insignificant. She was the daughter of the ocean god and the sister of Percy Jackson. I was just Tamara Hope, who was a nobody with no family at all. I suppressed a laugh at the irony of my last name being Hope when I had no hope.  
When I reached the Hermes cabin, I removed all of my heavy armor and placed it by my assigned bed. Then, after brushing my teeth with a spare toothbrush, I climbed into bed and fell asleep instantly.

My dream was weird. I was in a huge mansion that must have been five stories high. A spiraling staircase was near the back to the left. A large impressive-looking kitchen was on the right. Sofas and TV's were arranged on my left. It looked normal, until I realized that assorted weapons were covering one wall, and a huge statue of a man with the head of a bird stood in the middle of the room. Someone was walking down the spiraling staircase; a tall boy with short black hair and bright-blue eyes. He had on a black shirt and jeans and held a bronze bowl, which he seemed to be talking to. I didn't know why, but I ducked behind a marble pillar and watched him. It wasn't like he could see me, but the dream made it seem like I was actually there.  
"Yes, I understand," the boy said, still talking to the bowl. "I can do this. We need to get her as soon as possible. I'm surprised they haven't detected it already. Okay, I'll leave tomorrow. Bye." The boy sighed and looked up from the bowl. He walked over to the kitchen and placed it on the counter. "This girl better come willingly, or I'm going to have a huge fight on my hands," he muttered.

The dream started to dissolve, and I was left in empty space. In the distance I could hear someone calling my name.  
"Tamara," someone said. "Tamara, wake up."  
My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself looking at the Hermes cabin leader.  
"It's time for breakfast. Here, Tina dropped these off for you."  
I took the garbage bag she offered me and looked inside. There was a fresh pair of clothes, toiletries, soap, towels, shampoo, and conditioner. Where she had gotten everything, I wasn't sure. I didn't question it though. After all that had happened yesterday, I was sure I smelled terrible and was in desperate need of a shower.

I walked over to the bathroom and shut the door. I turned the shower on and got in, allowing the warm water to wake me up. I still couldn't shake away my weird dream though. I had never had a dream like that, where everything had seemed so real. And I was sure I had never met that boy, but how had he been in my dream?

I got out of the shower and put my hair in a French braid. The jeans in the bag fit perfectly, as did the light gray shirt. I walked out of the bathroom and found that everyone was gone, except for the cabin leader.

"Everyone's gone up to breakfast already," she said. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble, just make sure you take your showers faster next time."

I nodded, feeling my cheeks go hot with embarrassment. I slipped my shoes on and followed the cabin leader out the door.

"I'm Hannah, by the way. I should have introduced myself earlier, but yesterday was hectic."

I smiled at Hannah. She was tall and lean with pale skin and chocolate-brown hair. Her eyes were a pale blue that had a slight glint of humor in them. She looked a little older than me, and she seemed like what an older sister would be like.

We walked up into the mess hall, and I looked around. Breakfast seemed more relaxed than dinner. Everyone was getting up and talking with friends from other tables, though nobody ever sat at a different table. Muffins, donuts, bagels, cereal, eggs, bacon, and a bunch of other breakfast foods were placed on the tables.

I looked over at the Poseidon table and found Tina sitting at the table across from Percy. Both had smiles on their faces as Percy told her a funny story. My heart dropped a little. Yes, I knew it was selfish of me to be jealous, but I was all alone in this big camp. Tina now had Percy, who seemed like a very relaxed and cool person after having calmed down. I had Hannah, who I was sure in time would be a great friend, but she had her siblings to think about and her duties as cabin leader.

I sat down next to Hannah at the Hermes table and grabbed a blueberry muffin. As I was taking a bite, Chiron walked up.

"Good morning, Tamara. How did you sleep?"

"Um, okay I guess. I had a weird dream though."

Chiron nodded. "As demigods, you tend to have weird dreams that seem more realistic. Don't worry, they don't necessarily mean anything."

 _Don't necessarily mean anything?_ I thought. _Does that mean that they may mean something?_

"Hannah, mind if I have a quick word with you?" Chiron said.

Hannah nodded and got up from the table. "No fooling around while I'm gone," she told her siblings, who acted offended as though the thought would never occur to them.

I watched them as they walked away, an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Suddenly, the blueberry muffin sounded gross, so I put it down on my plate and tried to calm myself down. A wave of nausea came over me and I fought the urge to vomit.

 _Breath in . . . breathe out. Breathe in . . . breathe out._

It didn't help. I had a feeling that Chiron was concerned with the fact that I hadn't been claimed yet. I was concerned too. Hadn't Archer said that I was supposed to be claimed by last night?

"Hey!" Tina said, walking up to me.

I turned around and managed a tight smile. Seeing her eased the knot in my stomach, but I was still tense. Chiron was worried about me, so I should be worried about me too, right?

"Are you okay? You look pale," Tina asked.

"I—I wasn't claimed last night," I managed to say. "Chiron's worried. I should have been claimed by now."

Tina pursed her lips. "Don't worry. Maybe your dad is really busy with something. I mean, he is a god."

 _Yeah, he's a god,_ I thought. _That doesn't mean he should ignore me._

"How's it going with Percy?" I asked, eager to change the subject.

"Oh my gosh, you wouldn't believe the powers I have! I can cause earthquakes and hurricanes, and I can breathe underwater and control water! Or so he's told me, I haven't actually done anything yet. But it's amazing what the children of Poseidon can do!"

Now, I'm not really sure what happened next. Maybe I just couldn't control my nerves, or maybe the fact that Tina was the daughter of a big shot god had gotten to me, but I suddenly found myself rising in the air, being enclosed in a golden sphere. I rose up to fifteen-feet at least, and when I looked down, demigods everywhere were scrambling around, trying to run away from me and grab weapons. Tina was right below me, screaming something. I couldn't hear her though. The only thing I could do was feel the power I had. I could squash everyone like a bug. I _was_ a powerful demigod! Everyone was wrong!

I thrust my arm out and found that I had a glowing golden replica of my arm following my movements. This golden sphere was a replica of me!

I slammed my fist into a mess hall pillar. Cracks ran across the stone and then it crumbled to the ground. I wasn't even conscience as to what was happening. All I knew was that I had power that no one would be able to have.

"Tamara!" someone screamed.

Some part of me that was still aware of what was happening looked around for the voice. There! Tina was trapped under a huge slab of stone from the fallen pillar. Her leg was pinned, and she had tears rolling down her face in pain. I suddenly realized what was happening. This wasn't me! I didn't want to hurt anyone!

Slowly, I felt myself sink to the ground. The golden sphere flickered and then died. I was set onto the ground, and I rushed over to Tina.

"Tina! Oh my gosh, what have I done?"

"Tamara, Tamara calm down! I'm alright. And, it wasn't your fault. You—your eyes, they were glowing. And you had gold markings glowing on your arms."

I looked down at my arms. They seemed fine and mark free.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't your fault," Tina said, reassuring me. "Can you get me out from under here?"

I nodded, unable to form words. I looked around the room and found Archer, who was surveying the area for injured demigods. I caught his eye and he immediately rushed over.

"Tina! Oh man, are you hurt?" he asked, frantic.

"I—I'm not sure. My leg's gone numb now."

"Just hold on," Archer stood up and gripped the stone slab. He lifted it with strength I didn't think he had, and I quickly pulled Tina out. He released the stone and knelt next to her, examining her leg. "It's definitely bruised, may be fractured, but I don't think it's broken. We better take you up to the infirmary to make sure though." Without asking, he scooped Tina into his arms and rushed away.

I watched them go, getting the feeling that Archer would take good care of Tina. Behind me, I heard the clip-clop of hooves. I turned and found Chiron looking down on me. He was frowning, and his eyebrows were scrunched together in concentration.

"Come with me," he said. "We have a lot to talk about."

We walked down by the beach, looking at the crystal clear water of Long Island Sound. I thought back to what Tina had said, how she could breathe underwater. How nice that must be, to just disappear underwater and not have to deal with the rest of the world.

"Chiron, what happened to me back there?" I finally asked.

"I wish I knew, Tamara. I haven't the slightest clue. But, I did discover something last night."

I waited in silence.

"Your last name, Hope, there was another camper here about twenty-five years ago, a daughter of Zeus, who had that last name. Except, we didn't know that she had been a daughter of Zeus until after she died. Her name was Lyla. Beautiful girl, red hair, tall, pretty smile. She came to camp when she was twelve, but she never questioned anything. She never complained about her heritage, or the fact that her father never claimed her. I was very fond of Lyla. When she turned eighteen, she left to go to college. I never saw her again."

I was silent, trying to process what Chiron was saying. _Red hair, tall, last name Hope._ Suddenly, it clicked. Chiron must have been mistaken though. There was just no way. . . .

"Chiron, are you saying that this girl, Lyla, was my mother?"

"Yes, Tamara, I'm certain that she was your mother. You remind me of her a lot."

"Chiron, you have to be wrong. My mother wasn't kind. She left me on the doorstep of an orphanage when I was one."

"Tamara, look at me."

I stopped walking and faced him.

"You're mother, she had to leave you. She was in danger, and she was worried for your safety. She had no choice."

"Everyone has a choice," I said back.

"Yes, but she chose your safety. Knowing her character, she wouldn't have willingly give you up like that."

"She wouldn't?" I asked, fighting tears.

"No, she wouldn't," he said firmly.

I'm not really sure why, maybe it was the emotional stress I had gone through the past few days, but I collapsed in the sand and sobbed. I let everything come out. My fear of the sphinx, the shock of being a demigod, turning into a golden glowing freak, hurting Tina, and now this. My heart couldn't take it anymore. I sat there in the sand, crying like a baby, but I didn't care. It felt good to let everything out.

Chiron stood next to me, remaining silent and letting me cry.

Once my sobs had diminished to sniffles, I looked up at Chiron. "I'm sorry, I usually don't cry like this."

"It's quite alright. This isn't the first time."

"So, you're sure that Lyla Hope is my mother?"

"I'm positive."

"Then that makes me. . . ."

"The granddaughter of Zeus? Yes."

"Then shouldn't I have inherited some of his powers?"

Chiron sighed. "Yes, but you haven't shown any sign of them. That's where I'm confused. I have no clue as to what your powers are. That glowing giant is not an attribute of Zeus."

"Then . . . what is it?"

"Chiron!" someone shouted. "There's an intruder! He's coming into camp by Thalia's Tree!"

"Quick, get on my back," Chiron said to me.

I gulped, uncertain about riding on a centaur's back. But I did what I was told, and Chiron galloped up the sandy hills, past the cabins, over the little creek, and up the hill to Thalia's Tree. And when I saw who was standing there, I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

"It's him," I muttered.

"Who?" Chiron asked.

"The boy from my dream."


	4. Chapter Four

**CHAPTER FOUR**

 _He's real?_ Was my first thought when I saw him.

He was mounted on some creature that looked like it was half eagle and half lion. It looked around with alert eyes, squawking at this thing or that. Peleus had curled himself around his pine tree and was quietly growling at the creature.

The boy from my dream wore jeans, black shoes, a red shirt, and had a brown leather bag slung across his body. Strapped to his side was some kind of weapon, a sword with a hooked end. He gracefully hopped off his mount and whispered something in its ear. The creature shuddered and calmed down. It folded its wings and laid down on the grass.

While all of this had been happening, a few demigods in camp had run up with weapons drawn. The only thing that kept them from attacking was a reprimand from Chiron. They glared at the boy as though he had committed a terrible crime.

"Hello. My name is Dakota Storm," the boy said. "I need to talk with the director of this camp."

"That would be me," Chiron said. "What is it that you need?" He said it with almost, annoyance in his voice.

"I'm looking for a girl named Tamara Hope. Is she here?"

I tried to keep calm. Why was he looking for me? What did he want?

"Why do you need this girl?" Chiron asked.

"She's in danger, especially here. She needs to come with me, where I can train her."

I couldn't take it anymore. I jumped off of Chiron's back and said, "Why? Why do I need to be taken away? I belong _here_ , at Camp Half-Blood."

Dakota looked at me for a second, blinking his eyes at my questions. "You don't understand. You're not like the Greeks here. You belong with your kind."

"I do belong here! My mother was Zeus's daughter!"

Campers around me stared at me in shock. Dakota looked at me in surprise.

"That's not right," he whispered to himself. "This could be very bad."

"Dakota," Chiron said. "perhaps you should come into the house and we can talk. I think we have a lot to discuss."

We were all silent as we sat in the Big House living room. I wasn't really sure what to say. I still didn't quite understand what was going on.

"Dakota, maybe you could explain to Tamara who you are and where you came from." Chiron suggested.

Dakota looked at me. "Well, you know my name is Dakota Storm. I came from Brooklyn, where I train the Kane Mansion."

"What does this Kane Mansion train you for? Is it like camp here?"

"Sort of. We train to fight monsters too, only the monsters we fight are different. They're Egyptian monsters." He let that sink in.

"Egyptian monsters. But, if there are Egyptian monsters, does that mean that there are Egyptian gods too?"

Dakota smiled. "Smart girl. Yes, the Egyptian gods are real, and we're part of them."

"We? As in, you and me?" I asked hesitantly. "Are you saying I'm the daughter of an Egyptian god?"

"Not quite. We aren't children of the gods, we're magicians. Thousands of years ago, the gods gave certain families magic, and every generation since has inherited that magic."

I sat back in my seat, trying to process what he was saying. I wasn't a demigod, I was an Egyptian who could do magic.

"But, my mother. She was a demigod."

Dakota sighed. "That's where this gets complicated. The only thing I can venture to conclude is that your father had no clue that your mother was a demigod. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been with her. The Egyptians and Greeks are supposed to be kept separate. That's why our training facilities are on different sides of the East River."

"Well, that's how it was supposed to be, until you came here," Chiron said quietly.

I had never seen him like this. Almost, hateful of Dakota. If Chiron disliked Dakota this much, the demigods in camp must be furious that he was here.

"So, you want to take me back to the Kane Mansion so you can train me?" I asked.

"Yes, though it seems like your powers haven't really shown up yet."

Suddenly, everything clicked. My freak out in the mess hall. The glowing replica of me. It all made sense now. I traded a glance with Chiron, and I knew he was thinking the same thing.

"They have shown up," I said. "This morning in the mess hall, I kind of had a melt down, and this golden sphere appeared and surrounded me and then I was lifted into the air. This huge golden giant appeared and I could control it."

Dakota's face paled. "You, summoned an avatar without any training? And it was gold?"

I nodded. I wasn't sure why he was so freaked out, but it was starting to scare me.

"Golden avatars only appear if you've channeled the power of Horus, the war god."

Outside, thunder crashed and lightning streaked across the sky, even though the sky had been clear moments before.

"Perhaps you shouldn't mention your gods names while here, Dakota," Chiron said. "It's bad enough that you're in our camp."

Dakota nodded. "As I was saying, golden avatars only appear if you've channeled the war god's power, and to summon an avatar by yourself without any training hasn't been heard of. You have to come with me right away. Your powers are obviously very strong and if you can't control them, you could hurt a lot of people."

I looked at Chiron. "But, don't I belong here too? My mother was a demigod. That means I'm half demigod."

"Tamara, I really want to keep you here, I do. But it's obvious that your Egyptian powers are more dominant. You have to go with Dakota."

I looked at my hands. I didn't want to leave. I mean, yes, I knew that everyone would look at me strangely because of this morning. And I would never be claimed. But Hannah was here, and Percy and Annabeth, and. . . .

"You're leaving?" Tina asked. She had come up the stairs from the hospital wing of the Big House. Her face was a little pale and she was leaning on Archer for support. A white cast was around her injured leg.

I got up and walked over to her. "Tina, I have to leave. I can't stay here. I'm just not one of you."

Tina nodded. "I heard. I was coming up from the hospital when Dakota explained everything."

"I'm sorry. I don't want to leave, I really don't."

"But you have to. I understand," Tina gave me a weak smile. "Will we see each other again?"

I looked at Dakota and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. As I said, Egyptians and Greeks are supposed to be kept separate. But, if it's fate for you to see her again, I'm sure it will happen."

I hugged Tina. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," she said back.

I turned and whispered in Archer's ear, "Take care of her, okay?"

He nodded.

"Do you have anything you need to pack?" Dakota asked.

I shook my head.

"Alright, then let's get going." He got up and walked out of the house.

I followed him out and we walked up to his mount, the eagle/lion creature, and Dakota turned and looked at me.

"This is a griffin. Don't worry, he won't bite. They're really gentle creatures, if you're nice to them."

I swallowed, and quietly said, "Okay."

Without any warning, Dakota scooped me up in his arms and placed me on the griffin's back. Then he mounted behind me and put his arms around me to hold the reins.

"You ready?" he asked me.

I nodded and gripped a few of the griffin's feathers. Dakota clucked and flicked the reins. The griffin turned and started galloping downhill. He then spread out his wings and flapped them twice. I shut my eyes as we went airborne, not opening them until Dakota said, "Hey, say goodbye to Camp Half-Blood."

I looked down at the camp, which was getting smaller and smaller. I watched it until I couldn't see it anymore, and then turned my gaze to the site in front of me. I could see all of New York City. It was amazing, seeing all of the buildings from this high up.

Dakota dropped one hand and placed it on my hip. I tensed up, not really sure what he was doing. But then two seconds later I was grateful, because the griffin went into a steep dive. I barely managed to contain my scream, but Dakota whooped behind me and laughed. Then he pulled the griffin up and we kept flying.

"What was that for?" I yelled at him.

"Hey, thought I'd have some fun. It was fun, wasn't it?"

"Well, yeah a little bit."

He chuckled and started describing the Kane Mansion to me. During the whole flight, he kept his hand on my hip. I wasn't really sure what to make of it. Had he forgotten that it was there? Or was he leaving it there on purpose?

We flew for another fifteen minutes before landing on what looked like an old factory from a distance. Up close, we were standing at the base of a huge mansion. It was at least five stories high, with floor to ceiling windows that were covered in hieroglyphics. The building was amazing, and if it looked like that on the outside. . . .

Dakota swung off the griffin's back. He then grabbed my waist and lifted me off. He placed me on the ground, but didn't let go of me. We stared into each others eyes until I could feel a blush creeping into my face. He finally let go of me and took the reins of the griffin. He whispered something into the creature's ear and it let out a squawk of delight. It took off into the air, flying to the very top of the mansion.

"So, this is the Kane Mansion," Dakota said. He walked over to a huge stone door and looked at me. "It's kind of a custom for a new comer to open the door on their own."

I looked from him to the door then back to him. "You want _me_ to open _that_ all by myself?"

"Hey, you summoned a golden avatar by yourself this morning. I'm sure you can handle opening a door."

 _But, I don't even know how I summoned that avatar,_ I thought to myself. I walked up to the door and stared at it, focusing on making an avatar. If I did, then I could just knock the door down and problem solved. But no avatar came and after three minutes of trying to summon one, I gave up and slammed my hand against the door. Where my hand touched the door, gold lines appeared. I pulled it back in surprise and where my hand had been, there was a golden imprint of it. Golden lines raced across the entire door, making some sort of shape. It was a falcon. A golden falcon that had my hand imprint where its heart would be.

I looked back at Dakota, who's eyes were wide and his mouth agape. Then the door groaned and slid upward until it disappeared.

"How—how did you do that?" Dakota asked. "I've never seen anything like that before."

I stared at my hand, shaking my head. "I have no idea."

Dakota stood there for a moment before finally walking past me and into the mansion. I followed him and caught my breath. It was the mansion from my dream. Everything was the same, except that there were kids running down the stairs, cooking in the kitchen, and sitting on the sofas.

"This—this is from my dream," I said. "Only, you were walking down the stairs and talking into a bronze bowl."

Dakota stared at me. "I was in your dream?"

I blushed and looked at the floor. I was getting the feeling that he liked me, I just didn't know what to make of it.

"Come on, I'll show you to your room." He walked up the stairs and I followed him.

We walked up flight after flight of stairs until my legs felt like limp noodles. Finally, Dakota stopped walking at the end of a hallway on the third level.

"Here's your room, I hope you like it. I'll send someone to come get you when lunch is ready." He turned and left me to explore my room.

I stood there for a few seconds, watching him as he left, and then I opened my bedroom door. What I found was not a bedroom but what looked like a large hotel room. I had my own kitchen with a mini refrigerator and microwave. The cabinets were stocked full of snacks and the fridge had soda, water, and juice. I turned my attention to the living room. I had a flat screen TV that was placed on top of a coffee table. A Wii was on one side of the TV and a Xbox 360 on the other. Inside the drawers of the table were movies and video games. Opposite the TV was a leather couch that had two speakers on either side of it.

"Dang, this totally beats the cabins at camp," I muttered, feeling guilty as soon as I said it. How could I think that about Camp Half-Blood? But then again, this was my home now.

I walked down a hallway to the left of the kitchen and found where my bed was. It was a queen size with two white pillows and a sky blue comforter. Another, smaller TV stood on a coffee table on the opposite wall to the bed. To my left was a closet, which was filled with all of my favorite brands of jeans, shorts, and shirts. To my right was a sliding glass door that led to a balcony. Back down the hallway was the bathroom, which already had my toiletries in it. This place was amazing and nothing at all like Camp Half-Blood's set-up. But then again, I was at an Egyptian training home where the kids were magicians.

I was about to walk onto my balcony when there was a knock at my door. I walked over and opened it. Standing there was a little girl who looked about five years old. She kind of looked liked Dakota a bit, with long black hair and bright-blue eyes.

"Dakota says it's time for lunch," she said quietly.

I smiled at her and said, "Lead the way." I shut the door to my room and followed her down the flights of stairs.

Downstairs, the living room was empty, but I could see that everyone had moved out onto a balcony, and the little girl led me out the door out onto it. The summer wind hit me in the face and I breathed it in, letting it calm me.

Outside on the balcony was a swimming pool and a patio table. Thirty chairs were somehow placed around it, and kids were sitting in them. I looked for Dakota and found him talking to a tall blond boy with green eyes. When he saw me, Dakota waved me over to the chair next to him. The little girl had run off to sit with some of her friends. I made my way over to Dakota and sat down.

"Did you like your room?" he asked.

"Oh my gosh, yes! If you want to call that a room!"

The boy next to Dakota laughed and looked at me. "Well, hello there. I'm Liam," he said with a smooth voice. "And you are?"

I sat there for a second, trying to compose myself. The way that Liam talked to me, with that smooth, silky voice, transfixed me.

"Um . . . I'm Tamara. Tamara Hope."

He took my hand and kissed it. "Pleasure."

I sat there, feeling my cheeks burn with embarrassment. They stared at me for a second before laughing. I looked at them, confused.

"Liam here is a ladies man, Tamara. Don't take it personally, he does this with all the girls," Dakota explained.

I started laughing too, blushing even harder at the way I had reacted.

Someone clapped his hands and all talk ceased. Seated at the head of the table was a man that looked the same age as Percy. He had curly-brown hair, dark-brown eyes, and cocoa-colored skin. I knew right away that this was the instructor of the mansion.

"To the House!" he said, raising a cup above his head.

"To the House!" everyone repeated, raising cups above their heads.

I hadn't realized that cups had materialized in front of us. I took a sip of the liquid inside and found that it was some sort of sparkling water.

The man at the head of the table said, "Everyone, I would like to introduce a new initiate, Tamara Hope. Welcome."

I smiled hesitantly as everyone looked at me. A lot of the kids smiled at me, but a group of three girls glared at me. Then one of them said, "What are _you_ doing here?"


	5. Chapter Five

**CHAPTER FIVE**

I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped. I knew this girl. It was Wendy Porter, from school. She was the captain of the cheer squad and had never missed a chance to tease me. Of all the things she could be, she was a magician?

"Wendy, you know Tamara?" the instructor asked.

"Carter, this girl is seriously a magician? You've got to be kidding me."

"Look, Wendy, I'm not sure what your history is with Tamara here, but please welcome her. She's new and has had quite the adventure this morning."

"Whatever," Wendy said, crossing her arms and glaring at me.

I suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore. I got up from the table and rushed inside the mansion. I couldn't believe Wendy lived here. I had hoped that by coming here, I could have a fresh new start and make some friends. I guess not.

I started walking up the stairs and I heard the sliding glass door open and close. I looked back and met Dakota's eyes. He looked annoyed, but not with me. He walked over and touched my elbow.

"Hey, how about I show you the training room?"

I smiled. A distraction was just what I needed. I followed him up four flights of stairs. I wasn't really sure why these magicians couldn't install an elevator, but the "hike" showed me just how out of shape I was. When we got to the fifth floor of the house, I tripped over my feet and landed in Dakota's arms. He looked at me and smiled. I pulled away quickly and looked around. Unlike levels two and three, which just contained bedrooms, and level four, which contained smaller training rooms, the fifth level was a huge basketball gym. Four basketball hoops hung from stone statues of some god at the four cardinal points. A metal cabinet was placed along a wall. Dakota walked over to it, pulled out a leather bag, and tossed it to me.

"Here. That's your standard magician kit. You've got a wand in there, some twine, clay, papyrus, ink, and a staff."

I opened the bag and looked inside, searching for the wand. I didn't find one.

"Where's the wand?"

"That boomerang shaped thing, that's your wand," Dakota said.

I pulled out the "wand" and looked at it. It definitely looked like a boomerang, except it had Egyptian hieroglyphics carved on it.

" _This_ is a wand?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I know you were expecting to see a wand like in Harry Potter. . . ."

"That's exactly what I was looking for," I said laughing. "Whatever gave the Egyptians the idea to make their wands look like boomerangs?"

"Well, technically the Australians tried to make wands for themselves, but they ended up creating the boomerang."

I laughed. It really wasn't funny, but my mind was so wound up that I had reached my breaking point.

"Alright," Dakota said. "we're going to see what kind of magician you are. I want you to wave your wand, but point it away from me."

I did what I was told. And nothing happened.

"Try again," Dakota coaxed.

I waved my wand and again, nothing happened.

"Huh, that's odd. Okay, take that twelve-inch rod from your bag."

I put the wand back and pulled out the rod. It expanded in my hand until I held a six-foot golden staff.

"Throw it on the floor."

I looked at Dakota with a raised eyebrow, but threw the staff down. It morphed into a giant lion. It stood there, growling at me, its fangs bared.

"Um, Dakota? What do I do?"

"Nothing," Dakota said. "I want you to do nothing."

 _Nothing?_ I thought. _A huge lion is growling at me, and I do nothing?_

The giant cat walked towards me, its growl growing louder. I was suddenly reminded of the sphinx, and I felt a knot of fear form in my stomach. I inched backwards as the lion came closer. Dakota stood off to the side, watching me with curiosity.

The lion stopped walking and shifted its weight to its back legs. I knew what was going to happen, but my reaction was too late. The lion jumped on top of me and pushed me to the floor. The back of my head hit the wooden floor with a crack and I groaned. The lion was heavy, and I could feel it crushing my lungs.

"Dakota, help me!" I yelled at him.

"Tamara, focus. Make an avatar. I know you can do it."

I couldn't focus though. Not with a five hundred-pound lion on top of me.

The lion growled and opened its mouth, revealing very sharp teeth. I cried out, but Dakota did nothing. The lion was about to tear my face off, when I suddenly felt like something was controlling me. With strength I had no idea I had, I pushed the lion off of me and I felt myself rise, going into an avatar. The lion roared at me, and I hit it with the back of my hand, sending it flying into one of the basketball hoops. It hit the hoop and fell to the floor with a groan. I walked up to it and raised my foot. Then I stepped on the cat and it shrank back into a golden staff.

"Tamara?" I heard Dakota asked.

I turned at looked at him. He had backed up against a wall and looked alarmed.

"Tamara, I need you to calm down. Think of something that makes you calm."

I didn't listen at first. Instead, I felt angry. Dakota hadn't helped me! He was going to let the lion kill me! I walked over to him and got ready to punch him.

"Tamara, think of Tina. You hurt her because you were angry, remember?"  
I stopped. He was right. This was nothing like me! Slowly, I felt myself relax. The golden sphere I was encased in set me on the ground, and my avatar disappeared. I collapsed on the floor, and the world went black.

I woke up to the smell of candles burning. I could hear water gurgling out of a fountain to my right, and I had the feeling that someone was watching me. I opened my eyes and found a young woman looking at me intently. She had tan skin, straight caramel-blond hair, and sky-blue eyes. She smiled at me when our eyes met.

"Hello, Tamara. How are you feeling?"

I groaned and tried to sit up. My ribcage hurt from the pressure of the lion, and the back of my head throbbed.

"I feel sore, like I fell from a moving car," I replied.

The woman got up from the edge of my bed and helped me sit up. I looked around the room. It looked like an infirmary. Beds lined both walls and candles were lit at the beds that contained people. The candles' lights weren't yellow though. They were a variety of colors. Mine was a bright blue. I wasn't sure what that meant. A water fountain that was set in the wall spurted out water. The woman grabbed a cup, filled it with water, and handed it to me.

"Here, it will make you feel better."

I took a sip and felt warm inside. The water didn't taste like water, but some kind of warm drink. A chai latte, I think. I drained the glass in five seconds and looked at the woman.

"What was that stuff?"  
"Healing water. What did it taste like?"

"Like a chai latte from my favorite cafe," I replied.

She nodded. "Interesting. My name is Sadie Kane."

I jumped. _"Kane?_ Are you Carter's wife?"

Sadie jerked her head back in disgust. "Ew, no! I'm Carter's sister."

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Sadie sighed. "I know it's weird, but Carter and I really are blood related, even though we don't look alike at all."

I decided to take her word for it and asked, "What am I doing here? What happened?"

Sadie pursed her lips. "Dakota carried you down the stairs yelling for help. He said you guys were in the training room, where he had been trying to get you to summon your avatar. You did it, but the way you did it was weird. He said your eyes were golden and glowing, and you had hieroglyphics glowing on your arms and legs. And then you conjured up a golden avatar that looked just like you."

I rubbed my face with my hands. "It happened again?"

"This has happened before?"

I nodded. "It happened this morning. I destroyed Camp Half-Blood's mess hall. What's happening to me?"

"Carter and I have an idea, but it's never been heard of before. I'm going to take you to the First Nome."

"The first First Nome? What's that?"

"It's the magician headquarters. You need to talk with the Chief Lector."

"Where is this headquarters?"

"Beneath Cairo, in Egypt."

I made a choking sound. How were we supposed to get there in one day?

Sadie laughed quietly. "Don't worry, we know a fast way to get there. Are you up to traveling?"

I sat still and thought, weighing my injuries. I had a headache and my ribcage was sore, but after eating a good meal I would probably feel better.

I asked Sadie to get me some food, and she returned with a plate that had a grilled cheese sandwich and a slice of chocolate cake on it.

"Chocolate always make me feel better," she said with a shrug.

I downed the food in minutes and felt better instantly. The candle's light next to my bed turned a bright yellow.

"Feeling better?" asked Sadie.

"A lot better," I said.

"Good. Come on, we better get going." She helped me out of bed and we walked out of the infirmary. She led me out onto the fourth floor and started walking up a staircase I hadn't notice before. It led to the roof of the mansion. On the roof was a stable, where five griffins were kept. They all looked up from eating something and squawked a hello to us. Waiting for us on the roof was Carter and Dakota. Carter exchanged a look with Sadie, and Dakota sighed in relief at the sight of me.

"Tamara, you're okay. I was worried. You were really out of it," he said, walking up to me.

"Yeah well, I think that chocolate fixed me up," I said, winking at Sadie.

"Alright," Carter said. "have a safe trip everyone. Sadie, message me when you're done with the Chief Lector."

Sadie nodded and hugged her brother. Then she walked over to a piece of stone that had Egyptian writing on it. Sadie said a word and the artifact glowed. Out of the glow, a portal of swirling sand formed.

"After you," Sadie said to Dakota.

He turned and walked backwards, grinning at me. Then he was gone.

"Where does that lead to?" I asked.

"The First Nome. Don't worry, it's safe."

I walked up to the portal and stared at it. Then, closing my eyes, I jumped into it. I got the feeling that I was on some sort of water ride, only the water was sand. I felt like I was being flushed down a hole and the next thing I knew, I was falling out of a wall. I fell onto Dakota, who had just picked himself off the ground.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Fine," I said, clutching my stomach. I stood there for a few seconds, trying to control a wave of nausea.

Sadie, out of nowhere, stood beside me and rubbed my back. It felt good, like something a mother would do, and it eased my stomach.

"Ready?" she asked us.

After we both nodded, she led the way through the mob of people that crowded a train station. I hadn't realized that that's where we had landed until we started walking, but we were in a huge underground train station. People from all over the world crowded the sidewalks, waiting for their trains. I had been to several train stations before, but not one like this. It was gigantic, with stone pillars rising at least fifty-feet to support the glass domed roof. Trains whistled as they came into the station, all silver and shiny. And it was so packed with people, we had to stop walking every few seconds to let a hurried man or a woman go by. Finally, Sadie led us to a closet door near the back of the station and opened it. Inside were stone steps that led downward. Lit torches were placed along the walls to guide us. We walked down them, having to go on hands and knees in certain parts. Finally, we reached a chamber that was filled with torchlight. A thin stone bridge connected the floor where we stood to another one across a black chasm. Sadie stopped walking just before stepping onto the bridge.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"There's a guardian here who tests you before you're allowed to enter the First Nome," she said. "I remember the first time I came here with Carter, back when I was twelve years old. Carter had stepped onto the bridge and been attacked by throwing knives. Somehow, he fought them off with his sword, and the guardian called him Pharaoh. Just a memory," she said quietly, lost in thought. She stepped onto the bridge, and a floating man with a wrinkly face and the body of a chicken materialized.

He said something in Egyptian, which I somehow could make out. A question about our business. Sadie explained, speaking Egyptian, and the chicken man nodded. He let Sadie pass him, then Dakota, but when I stepped on the bridge, he quickly snapped his head to look at me. His eyes went wide, and he hurriedly bowed his head. He said something else in Egyptian, and Sadie and Dakota gasped. I looked at them, feeling a knot of fear in my stomach.

"What? What did he say?" I asked.

Sadie and Dakota exchanged a look before shaking their heads.

"It's nothing," Sadie said. "Come on."

I quickly walked off the bridge, still feeling uncertain. It was obviously _not_ nothing, but Sadie didn't seem to want to talk about it.

Sadie walked through another door, and we emerged onto a dirt street. The ceiling was so high that I couldn't see it, so it appeared as though we were outside. Colorful tents lined the streets, with people shouting out "amazing" deals. One elderly man reached out and grabbed my hand, trying to convince me that I needed to buy his lotus scented lotion. I politely declined and hurriedly rushed after Dakota.

The market was entertaining. People were crowded around tents, arguing over who had gotten there first. There were people selling nuts and figs, others selling "genuine" Egyptian artifacts. Several other tents had gorgeous pieces of jewelry on display. I was almost tempted to buy a beautiful silver ring, but I didn't have any money with me, and Sadie said that it was probably a piece of cheap wire anyway. We walked over a bridge that arched over a crystal-blue river. Tiger-striped fish swam lazily in it. Sadie led us away from the crowded market and to a quieter section of the First Nome. Stone buildings were placed here and there, like office buildings. In the center of all of this was a very long building. Above the doorway was an Egyptian symbol, a cross that had a loop at the top and a box above it.

"That's a _per ankh_ ," Dakota explained. "the symbol for the House of Life."

Standing in the doorway waiting for us was a man. He was tall, with short cropped black hair and blue eyes. He wore a white dress shirt tucked into dark-wash jeans and black loafers. The abnormal part about his outfit? A leopard-skin cape that draped his back.

"Chief Lector." Sadie said, bowing her head.

Dakota and I followed her example.

"Sadie Kane, it's been a while since I've seen you," he said back. "And son, you've gotten taller!"

I looked up in surprise. Dakota had walked over to the Chief Lector and was hugging him. How had I not seen it before? Dakota looked like an exact copy of his father. His father, who was the leader of the magicians.

"And you must be Tamara Hope, am I right?" he asked me.

I nodded and shook his hand.

"Come, we have a lot to talk about, and I'm sure you have many questions," he said, leading us inside the building.


	6. Chapter Six

**CHAPTER SIX**

The building was more like a long hallway. A shimmering blue carpet was rolled out on the floor to the back of the hallway. Glowing hieroglyphics were floating around everywhere. On the walls to my right and left, movies were playing. Well, I thought they were movies, but Dakota explained to me that they were clips of past events with the gods. I stared at one where a goddess was laughing cruelly as an older god clutched his leg.

"Don't stare at them," Sadie said. "It will literally suck you in and the experience could kill you."

I felt a lump in my throat and I quickly turned away. We walked all the way to the back of the hallway and there, the Chief Lector sat down at the foot of some steps. At the top of the steps was a golden throne, the type of throne a king would sit in. Placed on the red seat were two wooden objects. No one moved to sit in it.

"Now, Sadie, what's going on? You seemed unsettled when we talked."

Sadie looked at me, then back at the Chief Lector. "Sir, Tamara has some unusual powers. Earlier this morning at the Greek demigod camp, she conjured a golden avatar all by herself with no help."

The Chief Lector's eyes narrowed as he looked at me. "Go on."

"Dakota then later took her to the training room and had a lion attack her to see if she could do it again."

"Did it work?"  
"Yes, but, Dakota said that her eyes turned golden and she had hieroglyphics glowing on her body. He couldn't read them."

The Chief Lector stared at me for a long time, probably running through different theories about my powers.

"Sadie, do you have a theory?" he asked her.

Sadie swallowed and looked at the floor. "I do, sir, but it's crazy and not probable."

"I want to hear it anyway."

"I think—I think she's the child of a god," Sadie said.

Silence followed her. I felt like the world was spinning. The child of a god? But that would make me a demigod. And Dakota had said that the Egyptian gods didn't have children with mortals.

"And, I think she's the daughter of Horus," Sadie said, finishing her theory. "I know that's crazy. I know that the Egyptian gods don't have affairs with mortals, but her powers are unheard of. The only other person I know who can summon a golden avatar is Carter, and that's because he hosted Horus."

I didn't understand some of what Sadie said. How could you host Horus? But I understood a few things. She thought that I was the daughter of Horus, and that made me a very powerful magician.

The Chief Lector stared at me for a long time, and I felt as if he was going into my mind. Finally, he nodded. "We need to do some training tests. I'm inclined to agree with your theory, but as you said, that isn't probable. Dakota, take her to a training room please. Sadie and I need to talk privately."

Dakota nodded and turned, walking out of the building. I looked at Sadie, feeling terrified. She took my hands and smiled.

"Hey, everything is going to be fine. We're going to figure this out. Just go with Dakota and do as he says."

I nodded and followed Dakota. Once we were outside I asked, "Dakota, do you agree with Sadie? Do you think I'm Horus's daughter?"

Dakota looked at me gravely. "I do. The guardian at the bridge? He called you Princess of War. Why else would he call you that if you weren't the daughter of Horus?"

I felt a knot in my stomach, the knot that usually led to my avatar forming.

"Dakota," I said. "you need to calm me down."

"What?"  
"You need to calm me down. I can feel it. The avatar is coming back, and if I can't control it, all those people in the market. . . ."

Dakota stared at me then finally said, "How long have you known Tina?"

The question threw me off and took me by surprise. The knot in my stomach loosened. I answered his question and he asked me about my past life as we walked. He distracted me so much that once we reached our destination, the knot of fear had disappeared.

Dakota had led me into one of the buildings. It opened up to be a huge chamber with a stone fountain in the middle. All around us were trees blooming with colorful flowers. It felt peaceful and calm.

"Okay, we need to figure out if you have any other powers," Dakota said. "Don't worry, I won't let a lion attack you again, but take your staff out of your bag."

I pulled the rod out of my bag, and it expanded into the golden staff.

"Okay, I want you to point it at the fountain and concentrate. Focus on moving the water."

I didn't know what Dakota was up to, but I focused on the water. Nothing seemed to happen, but then the water started rippling. The ripples grew into little waves, and then the water was slapping against the sides of the fountain, splashing water everywhere. I jerked back and the water froze.

"Did I do that?"

Dakota nodded. "Yeah. Okay, do the same with that stone statue over there," he said, pointing to a statue in a corner.

I pointed my staff at it and nothing happened for a minute, but then finally there was a loud crack, and the head of the statue flew off.

Dakota nodded to himself. "Okay, I'm going to conjure some fire, and I want you to control it."

 _Fire?_ I thought. _Fire can't be controlled. It's wild, reckless. What if I mess up and burn the building down?_

Dakota knelt down on the dirt floor and drew what looked like a fire flame. He said a command word in Egyptian, and the fire suddenly roared to life. It burned there, getting bigger and bigger. It started making its way towards me. I froze, not able to move. The knot of fear started forming in my stomach again.

 _No,_ I thought. _I can do this._ I pointed my staff at the fire and said, "Stop."

Immediately, the fire stopped moving. I then said, "Smaller."

The fire diminished to twice its size. I concentrated, telling the fire in my mind to disappear. It did, and all that was left was a black trail in the dirt.

I looked up at Dakota, expecting praise, but he had a grim expression on his face.

"Dakota, what's wrong?" I asked.

"This could be bad. Fire elementalists in of themselves can be dangerous, but a fire elementalist that's Horus's daughter?"

"Wait, what's an elementalist?" I asked.

"Magicians who can control the four elements: water, earth, fire, and air. All elementalists can control all four, but usually one element is stronger than the others. In your case, it's fire."

"And why are fire elementalists dangerous?"

"Because fire is reckless. It's hard to control, and even when you think you're controlling it, you're just guiding it. And you're Horus's daughter. Your inherited powers may make your elementalist powers that much more harder to control."

"But, we don't know for sure that I'm the daughter of Horus, right?"

Dakota pursed his lips. "We'll know by tonight. Come on, let's go back to the market. I think we need a distraction."

We left the room and walked outside (can you walk outside when you're underground?) and to the market. If it was possible, the market had gotten even more crowded. Magicians were huddled at tents, arguing with the stands' owners if the prices was fair on this item or that.

"Hey, Dakota! Over here, my boy!" a stout man cried from behind an orange tent.

Dakota grinned and jogged over to the tent. "Hey, Danny!" Dakota cried, hugging him.

I walked after him, grinning as they exchanged greetings.

"Ah Dakota, you've gotten taller! And oh, have you finally gotten yourself a girlfriend?" Danny asked when he saw me.

I blushed and said, "Oh no, we're not together."

"Ah, that's a shame. There's a pretty girl right there for ya Dakota," Danny said, chuckling.

Dakota grinned and looked at me. It gave me an odd feeling.

"Anyway, is she a new initiate?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, she got in this morning. Has some pretty powerful magic, so we took her to see my dad."

"And what did the Chief say?"

Dakota faltered. I could tell he was trying to come up with a cover story. "Um, he said that she's just got some pretty strong magic for fire. Nothing Sadie can't handle."

"Oh, is Sadie here?" Danny asked. He licked his hand and combed his hair back.

I hid a laugh behind my hand. Did Danny have a thing for Sadie? I looked that stout man over. He had a slight potbelly, which stuck out over worn brown pants. His face looked like it belonged on an uncle, round and jolly. He had a scruffy beard that was brown, and a bald head. I couldn't imagine Sadie thinking anything of him but a friend.

"Well, tell her I said hello when you see her, okay?" Danny requested. "And, welcome to the First Nome," he said to me

"Thanks."

"Ah, no problem. And Dakota, make sure you ask this girl out soon, ya hear? She won't be on the market for long."

Dakota blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, okay Danny. See you." He turned and walked away.

I walked up beside him. "Well, he was nice. Reminds me of an uncle. Not that I've ever had an uncle."

"Yeah, Danny's great. I've known him as far back as I can remember. He can be kind of . . . bold though."

We browsed through the various tents, trying on silly hats and pieces of jewelry. Dakota intrigued me. When we had first met, he had seemed very serious. But he had a fun side too, and he knew when it was okay to show it.

We were buying a bag of figs to share when I spotted Sadie walking towards us. She looked tired, but she smiled when she saw us.

"Hey guys. What have you been up too?"

Dakota explained that I was a fire elementalist. Sadie frowned at that.

"That could be a problem," she said. "You're already powerful, but add a fire elementalist to

that. . . ."

I sighed. I was getting tired at hearing how powerful I was, how dangerous I was. Sure, it was kind of cool at first, hearing that my powers were unheard of. But now it was starting to scare me.

"So, what have you been doing?" Dakota asked.

"Um, I was in a meeting. Look, right now isn't the best time to talk. We'll talk tomorrow, back at the Kane Mansion."

"We're staying the night?" I asked.

"Yeah. The portals are down, and there isn't any other fast way back to the mansion. Come on, we're staying with the Chief Lector." Sadie led us back over the bridge, but instead of walking to the main building, she turned left at a corner and led us to a neighborhood. I hadn't noticed that there were houses back there, but I should have guessed what with all the people shopping in the market.

We walked up to one of the bigger houses on the block. It was made out of red bricks, like many of the houses I had lived in before, but it had a chimney that was puffing out smoky hieroglyphics. A huge blue hieroglyphic glowed over the door. I think it meant family.

Sadie rang the doorbell, and a pretty older woman answered. She had wavy black hair that fell down her shoulders and bright-blue eyes like Dakota.

"Sadie! Oh, it's been so long! Jacob said you were coming! And Dakota! My sweet boy!" The woman hugged Sadie first and then pulled Dakota in a hug. She rubbed his back and kissed his cheek.

Dakota's ears turned red with embarrassment, but it made my heart hurt. I had never had a anyone do that to me, even though it was embarrassing. At least Dakota had a mother.

"Okay, Mom, come on," Dakota said, pulling away.

"I'm sorry. I know you're too old for this stuff now." She smiled up at her son, and then her eyes fixed on me. "Oh, you must be Tamara. I'm Joy, Dakota's mom. It's nice to meet you." She pulled me into a hug too, and after a few seconds, I hugged her back.

"It's nice to meet you too. Thanks for having us."

"Oh, no problem. Please, come inside."

We followed her into the house, and I was hit with the smell of cooking fish. My stomach growled in hunger. The house was simple. All of the walls were painted a creamy brown and were covered with photos of two kids with black hair and blue eyes: Dakota and his sister. So I had been right about the little girl at the mansion. The floor was made out of white tile that was so clean, I could see my reflection. A staircase ahead of us led to another floor. To our right was a hallway. We walked down it and into the kitchen, where the Chief Lector was stirring something at the stove. He looked up when he saw us and smiled.

"Hello, Tamara. Nice to see you again."

I smiled politely and sat down in a chair Joy offered me. She then placed a glass of lemonade in front of me.

"Dakota, could you go set the table, please?" Joy asked, handing her son plates and silverware.

Dakota walked out of the kitchen and into a dining room, where he set a beautiful dark brown table.

I was curious at all of this. Dakota didn't even live here anymore, yet his parents treated him as though he did. I wondered how often their daughter saw them. She was young, maybe six or seven, yet she had been sent to the mansion anyway. And their father was the leader of the House. But the family seemed so normal.

Sadie and I helped set food on the table and then we sat down to eat. I slid a piece of the offered fish onto my plate and started shoving food into my mouth as fast as I could without looking like a slob.

"So, Sadie, how are things at the mansion?" the Chief Lector asked.

Sadie went into a progress report on the initiates. I remained silent, eating my food and listening. Dakota talked to his father about his training, and answered his mother's questions about his sister, Lily.

When the meal was over, I tried to hide a yawn, but Joy saw it anyway.

"Tamara, if you'll come with me, I can show you to your room."

I nodded and followed her upstairs and into a room. It was cozy, the walls painted a cocoa brown. A huge bed was placed on the wall and I had to keep myself from running to it.

"You'll be sharing with Sadie. I hope you don't mind."

I think I shook my head, saying I didn't mind. I was too tired to register anything.

"Alright well, goodnight." Joy closed the door behind her.

I kicked my shoes off and fell into the bed, falling asleep even before my head hit the pillow.


	7. Chapter Seven

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

In my dream, I was in a desert. A hot wind blew red sand around me, blinding my vision. The sun was right overhead, glaring down at me. I looked back and saw that the wind kept erasing my footsteps. Where I was walking, I wasn't sure, but my body felt like it had been trudging along in the red sand for miles. I staggered and fell on my hands and knees. Above me, I heard the cry of a falcon. I looked up at it and saw it swoop down at me, its claws seemingly ready to tear at my head. I covered my head with my arms, trying to shield myself from the bird, but the attack never came. Instead, I heard the sound of feet hitting the desert floor. I slowly looked up, and found myself staring into one gold eye and one silver eye.

"Who—who are you?" I asked.

"I am Horus, king of the gods, god of war, and your father."

I felt a shock go throughout my body. My father? I was finally meeting him via a dream. He was impressive looking; tan muscled arms, tall, and broad shouldered. He wore leather armor and had a sword like Dakota's strapped to his side.

"So, I am your daughter then?"

"Yes. Sadie was very bold when she stated her theory, but she was correct."

"But, how? I thought the Egyptian gods didn't have children with mortals."

Horus sighed. "I broke the law. We gods made a pact centuries ago, promising that we would never have children with mortals. I managed to ignore most of the women I set my eyes on. But your mother, there was something about her that I couldn't pull away from. I brought her to my palace, gave her gifts, treated her like a queen. I fell in love with her, and she loved me. We got married secretly, but she knew she couldn't stay with me. The other gods didn't know that I had brought a mortal into our world, but they were getting suspicious. She left, and I tried my best to forget her. I didn't know that she was with child when she left; I didn't find out until after your mother's death."

I sat there, grabbing sand in my hands and gripping it tightly. "You knew?" I cried. "You knew I was your daughter, but you ignored me anyway?" I felt angry. How could he do that to me? Without thinking, I threw the sand at him.

Horus's face went from shocked, to angry, and then to remorse. "Tamara, I'm sorry I couldn't make contact with you. You couldn't live with me. I had to leave you in the foster care system."

I felt tears well up in my eyes. "I understand that I couldn't live with you, but at least you could have come said hello, told me I was your daughter, called me, I don't know, let me know that someone loved me. But no, you decided to ignore me, leave me to the mercy of the foster care system, where I moved from home to home."

I expected Horus to yell at me, give me some lecture about how he was a god and shouldn't be treated this way. But instead, he hung his head and whispered, "I know."

Tears fell down my cheeks and I swiped at them angrily. "Did you know Mom was a demigod?"

"Yes. She told me as soon as we met. I didn't care; I loved her."

"Do you know how much trouble you've caused me? I belong in two different places. My heritage is complicated and confusing. And, to make matters worse, I have unbelievable powers that are _very_ dangerous."

"Tamara, I'm sorry. I wish we could talk more, but it's time for you to wake up. I'll see you again soon. I promise." Horus morphed back into a red falcon and took off into the air.

The red sand swirled around me until I was in the middle of a huge red tornado. The sand beneath my feet vanished, and I fell through darkness.

"Tamara. Tamara, wake up!"

My eyes shot open and I sat up. Sadie was sitting next to me, worry in her eyes. I looked around the room, trying to figure out where I was.

"Tamara, are you okay?" Sadie asked.

"Yeah I just, had a weird dream. I'm fine."

Sadie kept looking at me, not convinced. I gave her a smile and asked, "What's going on?"

"Joy came in to tell us that breakfast will be ready soon. There's a fresh change of clothes for you in the bathroom if you want to take a shower. I'll be downstairs." Sadie got up off the bed and walked out of the room.

I looked around. The cocoa brown walls comforted me. I hadn't noticed much of the room last night, but it was plain and simple, like the rest of the house. A wooden rocking chair sat in the corner. Across from the bed was a door, which I guessed led to the bathroom. To my left was a window that had white lace curtains covering it. I got out of bed and looked out the window. Down below, I could see men and women walking into various buildings. They all wore plain cotton shirts and jeans and had leather bags slung across there shoulders. Out in the distance, I could see tent owners setting up their merchandise, yelling greetings to one another. Just another normal day in the First Nome. Little did those peaceful people now that the daughter of Horus was looking down at them.

I walked into the bathroom and got in the shower, letting the warm water sooth my sore muscles. It also relaxed me, which I was desperately in need of after having experienced that dream.

The clothes Joy had picked out were a pair of jean shorts, a royal blue top, and black running shoes. I put the clothes on and let my hair dry in gentle curls. I walked out of the bedroom and ran into Dakota, who's black hair was wet from a shower. He grinned at me and said good morning. I smiled back and quickly walked downstairs. He made me nervous, what with how he acted around me, and how Danny had insisted that we should date.

Downstairs, I walked into the kitchen and was handed a bagel from Joy.

"Here you go, something quick and fast. Sadie wants to get a move on as soon as possible."

On the counter was a variety of cream cheeses. I put some strawberry spread on mine and was about to take a bite when the air shimmered in front of me. I dropped my bagel on the floor in surprise and yelped. The shimmer turned into an image of Tina standing outside of the Big House with a worried look on her face. Archer was standing next to her, also with a concerned expression.

"Tamara? Tamara, can you hear me?" she asked.

"I—uh. Tina? What—what's going on?"

"I'm Iris-messaging you," Tina explained. "It's a way to communicate with others. If you offer up a sacrifice to. . . ."

Archer cleared his throat next to her. "Um, we're on a tight schedule here."

"Right! Uh—anyway, we have some bad news."

"What's going on?" I asked.

Joy walked over and frowned at the message, obviously not approving of it.

"Tamara, you have to come back to camp. Something bad has happened with the gods."

I felt a lump in my throat. "What?"

"It's Zeus. He's been kidnapped, or god-napped I should say."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "What? How could Zeus be, god-napped? He's a god!"

Archer shook his head. "We don't know. That's what Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron were so worried about. None of the gods have made any contact recently, and it worried them. This is why."

"Why do you need me to come back to camp?" I asked. "I mean, I know Zeus is my grandfather and all, but it's clear that I belong with the Egyptians."

"We got a prophecy from the Oracle," Archer said. "She said that a son of arrows, a daughter of the sea, and the princess of war were to go on the quest. Tina and I were the first two people mentioned, but we couldn't figure out the last one until this morning. We thought it might be a daughter of Ares, but the princess thing didn't seem quite right." Archer rolled his eyes. "Those girls are anything _but_ princesses."

It made sense. I really was a princess of war, seeing as Horus had claimed me as his daughter.

"I don't know if Sadie will let me," I said.

"Who's Sadie?" Tina asked

"I'm Sadie," she answered, coming inside the house. "Tamara, what is this? What's going on?"

I quickly explained to her what was happening. Sadie shook her head.

"No. I'm not going to let you go on a quest for some Greek god. Tamara, I know he's your grandfather, but you belong with us."

"Miss, Sadie, whatever you want to be called, the Oracle from our camp made a prophecy. Prophecies always come true, so whether you like it or not, Tamara will be going on this quest." Archer said firmly.

Sadie stared at him long and hard. "Fine," she finally snapped. "But Dakota goes with you."

"I go where?" Dakota asked, coming downstairs.

"On a quest with Tamara to find a Greek god," Sadie said.

" _What?_ No way am I going to help them find the most arrogant, prideful piece of—"

"So, it's settled then!" Tina interrupted. "Tamara, get to camp as soon as possible. Zeus may not have much time."

The image faded and I turned to Sadie. "Thank you, for letting me go."

Sadie shook her head. "I think this is a _very_ bad idea. You should stay at the mansion, learn to control your powers."

"I have to help them," I said.

"Fine. We better go. Joy, thank you so much for having us. Tell Chief Lector Storm we said goodbye." Sadie hugged Joy and then walked out of the house. Sadie led us into one of the magician buildings that was empty, except for an ancient Egyptian relic. She summoned a portal from the relic and we jumped through, letting the swirling sand take us back to the Kane Mansion.

Carter was waiting for us when we got back. He was standing on the roof, petting one of the griffins when we shot through the portal. As soon as we stood up and brushed ourselves off he said, "Tamara, good. Come with me, we have some training to do."

I looked at him, a little stunned at his rapidly-fired instructions.

"I told him about who you are," Sadie explained. "Carter has to know everything as soon as it happens," she said with a small grin.

"Oh yeah? Well did you tell him about the Greeks' quest?" Dakota asked. He wasn't looking at me. He had his back turned and his arms crossed, and I got the feeling that he was angry with me.

"The Greeks' quest? No. . . ." Carter said.

I quickly gave him the short version of my conversation with Tina and Archer. Carter opened his mouth to say something, but Sadie stepped in.

"Carter, before you say no, I already told her that she could go, as long as Dakota goes with her."

Carter glared at his sister, and for a few seconds it seemed like they had a conversation. I imagined it went something like:

Carter: _You didn't ask me._

Sadie: _I didn't have time. She has no choice._

Carter: _I'm her instructor and I say she can't go. It's too dangerous._

Sadie: _I'm her instructor too, and I say she_ can _go. I know it's dangerous, but she's Greek too._

Carter sighed and rubbed his jaw. I felt like they were my parents, arguing over which college was the best for me.

Carter threw his hands up. "Fine. But when the Chief Lector finds out, I'm not getting blamed. I really don't think this is a good idea, but I guess you have no choice."

I grinned at Carter and said, "Thank you." Then I ran over to one of the griffin stalls and got one out. I mounted before Carter could say anything else and I looked at Dakota. "Are you coming or not?"

Dakota glared at me and got on another griffin.

"Dakota, you have a scrying bowl, right?" Carter asked.

Dakota nodded.

"Call me when you have the chance. I want to know what's happening. And, here." Carter handed me some kind of bracelet. It was a wide gold band with hieroglyphics etched into it.

"I had one of the charm makers make it. Put it on; it's going to help you with your powers."

I put it on and looked back at Dakota. "Ready?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I guess."

I clucked to my griffin and he took off, flying towards Manhattan. Dakota's griffin followed. Behind us, Sadie waved a goodbye.

We rode in silence. Dakota kept his eyes on the horizon. I knew he was mad, I just didn't know why. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked him.

"What's wrong with me? Tamara, you're the daughter of an Egyptian god, and you're going to save Zeus, a lowly Greek god! You have powers that are difficult to control, and you're leaving the only place that can help you control them. You aren't part of them, Tamara! You're Egyptian! You shouldn't be helping the Greeks!"

I felt a roar in my ears. "I _am_ one of the Greeks, Dakota. Whether you like it or not, my grandfather, Zeus, has been kidnapped, and I'm going to save him. I know that he never claimed my mother. I know that he probably doesn't care about me. But I am _not_ going to ignore him like Horus ignored me!"

Dakota huffed. "I still think you're making a mistake."

I shook my head. He was wrong. The Greeks were my family too. And even if they weren't, I had Tina to think about. She was my best friend. If she needed me, I was there for her no matter what.

Fifteen minutes of silence later, we flew over Camp Half-Blood. Waiting for us at the Big House were Tina, Archer, and Chiron. They all looked grim as we landed.

It was good to see Tina again. She looked well rested from her injury. Her skin color was back to normal and she walked without a limp, though she had an Ace bandage wrapped around her leg. Both Tina and Archer had backpacks slung over their shoulders, and they looked ready to go. Chiron wore his Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and had grass stains all over his white stallion body.

"Tamara, you're safe. Good. Hello again, Dakota," Chiron said with a more pleasant tone than before.

Dakota nodded curtly at them.

"Are you ready to go?" Tina asked after giving me a hug.

"Yeah, ready when you are. Where are we going?"

"Mexico," Archer said. "That's where the Oracle said we should start."

"Why Mexico?" Dakota asked.

"The Oracle said that we must seek a guide from the god of death. That's Hades."

"The Greek god of death lives in Mexico?" Dakota asked with a confused look.

Archer shook his head at Dakota's ignorance. "The gods' homes move around whenever Western civilization moves. It's shifted a little bit, so Hades moved to Mexico."

"Greek gods are weird," Dakota said, though I detected a hint of humor in his voice.

"How are we getting to Mexico?" I asked.

"By pegasus," Chiron said. "Normally we would have Argus, our head of security, drive you to the nearest train station, but you only have three days to get to Mexico, find this guide, and then find Zeus."

"Well, let's get a move on," Archer said. "Um, can your, creatures, time travel? Cause we have extra pegasi. . . ."

Dakota's eyes narrowed. "They aren't _creatures_ , they're griffins. And, if you mean travel at fast speeds by bending the fabric of time, then yes, they can."

"Okay then!" I said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. "Let's go!"

Archer whistled shrilly and down from the stables two white pegasi galloped up. We all mounted our rides and looked at Chiron.

"I wish you all the best of luck, and may the gods, both Greek and Egyptian, be with you."

Archer clucked to his pegasus, and we took off, flying west, towards Mexico. What waited for us there, I wasn't sure. I just hoped it was friendly.


	8. Chapter Eight

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

We flew for about half an hour before Archer yelled to us, "Okay, let's get some more speed! We need to be in Texas by twelve!"

Tina and I exchanged a look. Archer had a schedule? On a quest? _Really?_ I already missed the laid-back tour guide Archer.

We all kicked our mounts and they gained speed. It wasn't super fast, but I felt like someone was slowly peeling my face off. The land below us passed in a blur. We flew over cities, the countryside, and forests. It was awesome to watch as we went over so many states in so little time.

Several times during our flight, we had to duck for an airplane or a helicopter. Thankfully, the helicopters didn't try to shoot us down, but whenever we passed an airplane, people would press their faces up against the windows. I wasn't sure if they were seeing what was real or some kind of illusion. I remembered back at the school, just two days ago, and how everyone had thought a giant, rabid dog, not a sphinx, had attacked us.

Ahead of us, Archer turned back to look at us. "We're going down!" he shouted. "Aim for that forest to the left!"

Our mounts fell into a steep dive as we rushed to the ground. I closed my eyes as the wind whipped at my hair. I felt like I had lost my stomach a few feet back. Right before we smashed into the ground, my griffin pulled up, and we gently landed in the middle of a forest. Huge green trees rose up around us, shading us from the glaring sun. We dismounted and looked at Archer.

"Where are we?" Dakota asked.

"El Paso, Texas," Archer said. "I think we should rest, both us and our rides."

I looked over at the pegasi and griffins. They looked exhausted, their heads hanging low and breathing labored.

"Okay, but do we just leave them here while we go into the city?" Tina asked. "There will be questions if people see us walking around with four mythological creatures."

"Leave them here," Dakota said. "They'll take care of themselves, right?"

We all nodded.

"Okay then, let's go."

We hiked through the forest, towards the sounds of the city. Archer led the way, Tina and I walked together in the middle, and Dakota brought up the rear. He still seemed mad at me and had no intentions of interacting with Archer at all.

"So, what happened at the Kane Mansion?" Tina asked.

I told her everything; about my amazing room, how Wendy Porter was a magician, the lion attacking me, and my freak out in the basketball gym. I told her about Sadie, our journey to the First Nome, how the guardian at the bridge called me Princess of War, and Sadie's theory that I was Horus's daughter.

Tina sucked in a breath when I got to that part of the story. "She thinks you're the daughter of Horus?"

"Well, I am," I said quietly. I recounted to her my dream and my discussion with the war god.

Tina shook her head in amazement. "You're like, a really powerful demigod then. I mean, I've heard stories of what Percy can do, but a fifteen-foot glowing replica of yourself at your command?"

I looked away from her. Talking about my powers made me uncomfortable. "There's more," I said. "I'm an elementalist, a term for someone who can control the four elements."

"Seriously?" Tina asked. "So, you can control water like me?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"That's amazing," Tina said to herself.

I kicked a rock and sent it flying through the dirt. I was still really angry at Horus and talking about it to Tina didn't help.

Ahead of us, Archer stopped walking. We walked up next to him and saw that we were on top of a hill, looking down at the city of El Paso. Below us was a road that wound its way down the hill. The city seemed far away, and my legs shook at the thought of walking down to it.

"Well, now what?" Tina asked.

"Um . . . well. . . ." Archer stammered, clearly having no plan as to how we were going to reach the city.

"Here," Dakota said. "I don't know how you people manage without magic." He opened his leather bag and pulled out a clay figurine of a car.

"Great!" Archer said. "Let's all climb into the clown car!"

Tina and I stifled giggles while Dakota shot a glare at Archer. Then he placed the car on the ground and said a word in Egyptian.

The car glowed and started shaking. We all backed away as the car grew into a black SUV.

"Okay, that was cool," Tina said with a smile.

Dakota managed a small smile. "Yeah, we Egyptians have some tricks up our sleeves. Everyone get in."

We all climbed into the car, Dakota and I in the front, Archer and Tina in the back. Dakota started the car and we started down the road.

"So, any idea as to where we're going?" Dakota asked.

"Food," Tina and I both said at the same time. My stomach felt like an empty pit, and I remembered that I hadn't eaten breakfast.

We rode in silence as Dakota maneuvered the huge car down the hill. Finally, we made it into the city and we started searching for a place to stop.

"There!" I cried, pointing to building.

It was off on its own and looked run-down, but the smells that were coming from it were heavenly.

Dakota pulled into the small parking lot, parked, and we all jumped out, trying to walk and not run into the restaurant. It was small and made out of crumbling red bricks. A faded blue sign hanging over the door read: The Sirens' Cafe. We walked inside and looked around. It was small, with five round tables placed around the floor. The inside was decorated to look like the sea. The walls were painted an aqua blue. Sea shells were placed everywhere and a huge aquarium was imbedded into one of the walls. A woman was standing at a podium when we walked in. She was pretty, with black and fair skin. When she smiled at us, her ocean-blue eyes gleamed and she had a perfect-white smile.

"Hello there!" she said with a cheerful tone. "I'm Mary. Table for four?"

"Yes, please," I said. "Thank you."

"Oh, it's no problem." she said as she led us to one of the tables. She gave us menus and smiled. "One of my sisters will be out shortly."

We sat down and looked at our menus. Once we had decided what we wanted, we all looked at Archer.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, you've kind of taken the lead here on this quest. What's the plan after we eat?" Dakota asked. He finally seemed to be opening up to Tina and Archer, and for that, I was relieved.

"Okay, well once we're done here, let's go back and get the pegasi and griffins. We'll fly over to Mexico, which is about fifteen minutes away from where we are. From there, we need to find the entrance to Hades's place."

"And how hard is that going to be?" Tina asked.

"Uh . . . not really sure. Follow the smell of death?" Archer said jokingly.

"That would be great," I said. "If we were bloodhounds. Seeing as we aren't. . . ."

"Actually, I could arrange that," Dakota said with a gleam in his eyes.

"Hello!" a cheerful voice said, ending our discussion.

I looked up at a young pretty girl standing next to our table. She had pale skin and light-blond hair falling around her shoulders, but her eyes were the same blue as Mary's.

"My name is Angela and I'll be serving you today," she said with a bright smile.

"Uh. . . ." Dakota said.

I looked at him and found that his mouth was hanging open and he was slightly drooling. His blue eyes had glazed over. I looked Archer and he was the same way.

Tina and I exchanged glances. This couldn't be good.

"Um . . . well, I all of the sudden feel really sick," I said, clutching my stomach. "I'll think we'll be going."

"Yeah, I don't feel well either," Tina said, fanning herself as if she had a fever. "The food did smell really good, but I'm just not hungry anymore."

"That's okay!" Angela said. "You two can leave, but I'm sure the boys are still hungry. Right boys?"

"Yes," they both said mechanically. "We are very hungry."

Not good.

"Um, no I need them to drive us home," Tina said. "Come on, boys." She grabbed Archer's hand, but he jerked it back and glared at her.

"I'm hungry, Tina. I'm staying," he said defiantly.

"Me too," Dakota said.

"Excellent!" Angela said. "Let me just go get my sisters!" She turned and skipped away.

I looked at Tina. We had to get out of here. I didn't have much experiences with monsters, but it was obvious that Angela was one, which meant her sisters were probably monsters too. We needed to leave, but the boys were in some kind of trance and there was no one way we were leaving them here.

Angela came skipping back, followed by another beautiful girl and Mary. The other girl had wavy chocolate-brown hair but had the same blue eyes as her sisters.

"This is Gina!" Angela said. "Now you've met all my sisters!" she jumped up and down happily and clapped her hands.

At the table, Dakota and Archer started clapping too. They had ridiculous smiles on their faces and were bouncing excitedly in their seats. I wanted to punch the sisters for turning the boys into harmless puppies.

"While you're food is cooking, would you like us to sing for you?" Gina asked.

"Yeah!" Archer cried happily.

The three sisters smiled at each other and starting singing. It wasn't any particular song, just vowels that they stretched out. It was pretty, and for a few seconds I was caught up into it. Then I snapped back into reality when Dakota got up from his chair and started walking towards Angela. She smiled at him as she sang and held out her arms, inviting him in.

I felt hot. It wasn't like Dakota was conscience as to what he was doing, but I still felt jealous. For what reason, I didn't know. It wasn't like I liked him, right?

"Tamara!" Tina cried. She was holding Archer back, who was furiously trying to reach Gina. "They're sirens! Monsters who lure boys in to kill them!"

 _The Sirens' Cafe,_ I thought. _They weren't kidding._ I looked back at Dakota. He had reached Angela and they were leaning in to kiss. Just as their lips were about to touch, I yanked Dakota back. He was so thrown off balance that he tripped over our table and flipped it over. Angela's pretty face had disappeared. It had been replaced with red eyes, fangs, and wrinkled skin, yet she still sang like an angel. She started walking up to me, looking at me like _I_ was going to be lunch.

Next to me, Tina pulled something out of her pocket and it expanded into a bronze sword. She slashed it at Gina, forcing her to back up. All three of the sirens now had red eyes, fangs, and wrinkled faces, and they were giving us murderous looks.

I turned my attention back to Angela as she slammed into me. We fell on the ground, knocking over Dakota who had just picked himself off the ground. He hit the edge of a table with his head and I heard a loud crack. I didn't have time to worry about him though. Angela and I rolled on the ground, both of us trying to get on top of the other. Somehow, Angela ended on top of me. She smiled and bared her fangs. The now familiar knot of fear formed in my stomach, but this time I let it take control. I threw Angela off of me and she slammed into Mary, who had been about to bite a chunk out of Tina. I felt myself grow into my golden avatar, but this time I was in control. I grabbed Mary and Angela in one fist and squeezed my hand. They screamed as they disintegrated, turning into golden dust. I turned to help Tina, but she had Gina taken care of. Tina rolled sideways and slashed at Gina's legs. The monster fell to her knees and screamed as she melted into monster guts.

Tina looked at me, and I saw a flash of fear in her eyes. Was she scared of me?

"Tina, it's okay," I said in a much deeper voice. "I've got it under control." I focused on making my avatar leave, and it did. I was set on the ground and gave Tina a confident smile.

"That wasn't fun," Tina said. She pushed something on her sword handle and it shrank into a hair pin.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"A gift from Dad. I found it on my bed the night you left. Percy has a pen that does the same thing."

I nodded and tried to ignore the metallic taste I got in my mouth. Horus hadn't given me anything cool like that.

On the floor next to us, Archer groaned. He had fallen to the floor when Tina had accidentally tripped him and had hit his head pretty hard. He had a purple bump forming on his forehead. "What the heck happened? And why do I feel like someone whacked me on the head with Bam-Bam's club?"

"Argh," Dakota said, groaning as he came to. "Is it just me, or is the world spinning?"

Tina and I looked at each other and started laughing.

"It's a long story," I said. "Which we can tell you about over lunch."


	9. Chapter Nine

**CHAPTER NINE**

We raided the kitchen, grabbing burgers, fries, and milkshakes. For sirens, these monsters knew how to cook.

We ate at one of the tables that hadn't been knocked over during the fight. As Tina and I relayed the story to Dakota and Archer, they groaned with embarrassment.

"I almost _kissed_ her?" Dakota asked when we got to that part of the story.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "You almost did."

Dakota made a face that was part embarrassment, part disgusted. "Kissing a monster? That's nasty!"

I looked down at my hands, feeling a twinge of jealousy. Then I felt mad for feeling jealous. I didn't like Dakota. Not like that.

Tina gave me a curious look. I shook my head slightly, telling her to ask me later.

"I didn't try and kiss any monsters, did I?" Archer asked with a worried look.

Tina cracked a smile and shook her head. "No, you're too smart to do that."

They stared at each other for a second longer then necessary, and I tried to hide my smile.

Dakota cleared his throat. "So, we need to get a move on, right?"

Archer looked at his watch. "Yeah. We want to have as much time as possible to search for Hades's place before it gets dark."

We got up from the table and walked out of the restaurant. Traffic on the roads had lightened now that lunch hour was over, and we made it back to the hill within fifteen minutes. After Dakota commanded the car to turn back into clay, we called the pegasi and griffins, and we were on our way. Because we didn't have to travel so far, we flew at regular speed, which gave Tina a chance to talk to me.

"So, what was going on back there?" she asked.

I glanced back at Dakota, who was looking around at the scenery below us.

"I don't know what's going on," I confess. "I'm so confused."

"What do you mean by confused?"

I told her about how Dakota acted around me, holding me in his arms, grabbing me around the waist, which were all obvious signs that he liked me.

"And then, a friend of Dakota's named Danny back in the First Nome asked if we were together. I immediately said no, but Dakota just smiled at me, like he wanted to be together."

"Do you? Want to be with him?" Tina asked.

Yesterday morning, I would have automatically said no, but for some reason, I halted.

"I don't know. I don't know if I like him like that, I barely know him. It's like, I'm feeling this way cause of how he's treating me, you know?"

Tina nodded, understanding me.

"Hey ladies, sorry to interrupt your girl talk, but we've just entered the Chihuahuan Desert."

Tina and I both jumped at the sound of Archer's voice. While we hadn't been paying attention, he had dropped back to where we were flying. Neither of us knew how long he had been there.

I felt my cheeks go hot and I kicked my griffin ahead of Archer, hiding my embarrassment. We were flying over a huge desert. Sand was everywhere, as far as I could see, and the only thing that dotted the area was cacti. Huge cacti, little cacti, cacti with flowers on them, it didn't matter, it was everywhere. I had never seen cacti in person, having lived in the east my whole life.

"Archer," Dakota said, flying up next to us. "any idea how far the city is from here?"

"No clue. We're just gonna fly till we hit the city."

"And then?" Tina asked.

"And then comes the hard part. We find Hades's place."

I wasn't looking forward to that. It was going to be a long search, unless some god helped us, which I doubted.

"Let's kick the pegasi and griffins into a faster speed," Dakota suggested. "The city could be far away, and we could be wasting valuable time."

We all moved into a faster pace, and the desert whipped by below us. I felt sheer joy, riding at this speed. It was better than any roller coaster or water slide. We were literally flying over the sandy floor, just like birds.

We flew like that for half an hour before nearing the city. It was gorgeous, though nothing like New York. Tall buildings rose up to the sky. Mexican restaurants were everywhere. People walked along the streets, adults hurrying to work, or kids just hanging out and having fun. Traffic was backed up, drivers honking their horns in annoyance.

I turned to look at the others and said, "Let's find a park or something to land in, have our rides drop us off, and we can go from there."

Everyone else nodded in agreement and we directed our mounts to a park to our right. It was huge, with fountains everywhere. Bushes were covered in colorful flowers and trees lined the sidewalks. Thankfully, the area we landed in was empty, or someone would have called the police on us. Four kids who were dirty from traveling all day, riding four creatures that were thought to be myths? No adult in their right mind would think that was normal.

We dismounted and sent the pegasi and griffins to do as they liked until we needed them.

"So, does anyone have any idea as to where we should start?" Tina asked.

We all stood there in silence, thinking.

"I wonder. . . ." Dakota murmured. "This could be dangerous, for everyone, but I think I know someone who could help us."

"If you think it will work, then give it a go," Archer said.

Dakota set his bag down and started digging through it. Finally, he pulled out an amulet. It looked like a greyhound with cone-shaped ears. Dakota whispered something in Egyptian and the amulet glowed. He tossed it away from him and we all watched it. The amulet sank into the ground and vanished.

"Um . . . okay." Tina said. "How is that going to. . . ." She stopped talking when something started rising from the ground.

I couldn't tell what it was at first, but then I realized that it was a man. He was tall, with cocoa-colored skin and a bald head. He had very muscled arms and legs and wore black basketball shoes, shorts, and a jersey. Around his neck hung an amulet just like the one that had sunk into the ground.

Dakota bowed before the man and the rest of us decided we should too.

"Lord Anubis," Dakota said. "thank you for coming."

"You're welcome, Dakota Storm, but how about if you say hi to an old friend?"

Our heads shot up in surprise. Dakota was shaking Anubis's hand like they knew each other from way back.

"Um, Dakota? What's going on?" I asked.

"Guys, this is Anubis, god of the dead. He's also known as Walt Stone, former magician at the Kane Mansion, and Sadie's boyfriend."

I felt like a car had run over me. How on earth was Sadie dating a god? Wasn't that against the rules? Of course, I was the daughter of a god so. . . .

"Okay, hold up! Freeze!" Archer said. He pointed at Anubis/Walt Stone. "How are you a god and a mortal at the same time?"

"It's a very long story, involving my death," Anubis/Walt said, which cleared absolutely nothing up. "Perhaps if you guys have time, Dakota will tell you the story. Right now, as I understand it, you are on a quest to find the Greek god of death, am I correct?"

"Yes," Dakota said. "Do you have any idea where we might find him?"

Anubis/Walt (I didn't know which one to call him) stared off into the distance. "It's very smart of you to inquire of me, Dakota. Most people wouldn't think that the Egyptian and Greek gods would keep tabs on each other. But yes, I know where to find Hades. You have to find Panteon de Dolores, the largest cemetery in the city."

Tina made a sound like someone had punched her in the gut. Her hands started shaking.

"Yes, Tina Gonzalez, you know where it is."

Tina nodded her head. Her whole body was shaking, and her face had gone pale. I tried to catch her eye, but she just stared off into space, caught up in some memory.

"Thank you, Lord Anubis," Dakota said, bowing his head. "We appreciate your help."

Anubis nodded at Dakota and then focused his dark, almost black, brown eyes on me.

"Tamara Hope, the daughter of Horus." He stared at me before smiling. "You have your father's determined look and his eyes. Er . . . well, his eyes when he had both of them."

I remembered the old story of how Horus had lost one of his eyes thanks to his uncle, the god Set, who had stabbed it out. A moon god had replaced Horus's eye with an eye created out of the moon itself.

"Here," Anubis said. "your father wanted you to have this." Anubis snapped his fingers and out of nowhere popped out a package.

It was wrapped in brown paper, which had a name inked on it in hieroglyphics. After staring at it for a moment, I realized that it was _my_ name.

I took the package gently, like it held explosives. I didn't know what to say; I hadn't expected this.

Anubis patted me on the shoulder. "Your father does love you, Tamara. Though that is very hard to believe, since he's Horus." Anubis rolled his eyes.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Well, I'll be going now. I'm sure I'll see you sometime again. Be careful. Hades is not as helpful as I am."

And just like that, the god of death sank back into the ground, leaving behind the silver greyhound amulet.

Everyone stared at me, waiting for me to open my gift. I finally set it on the ground and opened it.

"Oh . . . wow," I breathed.

Lying there was a gorgeous sword like the one Dakota used. It had a silver blade that shone in the sun. I knew just by looking at it that it could cut through the steel like it was butter. The hilt of the sword was wrapped in soft brown leather and next to it was a note. I picked it up and read it.

 _Dear Tamara,_

 _I know you think I abandoned you, that I ignored you and left you to fend for yourself. That isn't true. I do love you, even though I haven't been there for you for most of your life. I really am sorry, but I thought that it was for the best._

 _I made this for you when I found out that you had been born. It's a_ khopesh _, made from the finest silver there is. I hope you will accept this gift, though I know that it won't mend our broken relationship._

 _I love you._

 _Dad_

I blinked away tears that blurred my vision. I was still really angry with Horus, but slowly, some of the anger faded away. I picked the sword up and it felt perfect. Unlike the Greek swords that I had tried out at Camp Half-Blood, this one molded into my hands perfectly and was just the right balance.

"Tamara, look," Dakota said, pointing at the blade.

When I had picked the sword up, golden hieroglyphics had engraved themselves onto the blade. It was my name.

"That's pretty sweet," Archer said, impressed.

I nodded, trying to compose myself. I strapped my sword to my belt, slipped Horus's note into my pocket, and looked at everyone.

"Alright, let's go find Hades."


	10. Chapter Ten

**CHAPTER TEN**

Tina led the way. She was silent as she led us down crowded sidewalks and busy streets. I didn't understand why this cemetery scared her so much, but she looked terrible. Face pale, hands shaking, shivering as if it was really cold out. I wanted to pull her aside ask her what was wrong, but she looked like she didn't want to talk and this wasn't the right time.  
Dakota fell into step with me, letting Archer walk next to Tina.  
"That's a pretty awesome gift," Dakota said, looking at my _khopesh_.  
I smiled and looked down at it. "Yeah. I just can't believe Horus made this for me."  
"It is kind of hard to believe," Dakota said. "I met Horus once last year; he was really arrogant and selfish."  
"Guys," Archer said, "we're here."  
We looked around. Tina had led us to the middle of a very large cemetery. All around us were stone graves, all looking worn down and weather beaten. Shading us overhead were trees that were covered in green moss. We were standing in the middle of a huge stone circle, surrounded by a ring of ten graves.  
"Okay. Everyone start looking for a Greek letter," Tina said. Her voice sounded shaky, like she was fighting tears.  
We all looked, getting on our hands and knees and searching every inch of the stone circle. Five minutes passed with no luck, and everyone seemed to have given up, when I saw it.  
"Guys, I think I found it," I said, staring at my discovery.  
It was a tiny letter that was only visible because it was a different shade of gray than the rest of the stone. It looked like an oval with a line going through it.

"Press it," Archer said.  
I pressed it with my thumb, and it glowed blue. There was a groaning sound, like gears turning, and we started sinking into the ground. We all rushed to the center and huddled together as we went into the earth.  
"Where are we going?" Dakota asked.  
"To the Underworld," Archer said. "To Hades."  
We kept sinking into the ground until the stone circle stopped moving and stone steps slid out in front of us. We looked at each other with uncertainty.  
"You guys ready for this?" Archer asked.  
We all gave tight nods, trying to be confident. We were literally walking into death here.  
I started down the steps, which descended even deeper into the earth. Black soil made a tunnel around us, and in the dirt I could see worms, centipedes, ants, and other unpleasant looking bugs.  
We walked in the center of the tunnel, heading to a light at the end. Tina walked next to me, quiet and distant.  
"Hey, what's going on with you?" I asked. "You seemed really scared when Anubis brought up Panteon de Dolores."  
Tina took in a shaky breath and looked at me. "My mother. She—she died two years ago. We were visiting Chihuahua and there was an accident. A huge blue truck didn't see us and hit us straight on. She—she didn't make it." Tina stopped walking, collapsed on the floor, and started crying.

Archer ran over and started rubbing her back. "Tina. Tina, it's okay," he said, trying to soothe her.  
Tina turned her face into his shoulder and let out another fresh wave of tears. I had never seen her like this. I hadn't even known she had been so close to her mother.  
Archer held her, letting cry.  
I looked at Dakota and he nodded. We kept walking, scouting ahead.  
"She looks really upset," Dakota said. "I can't imagine losing my mom."  
I didn't look at him. I didn't have any family to worry about losing, except for a father who was immortal.  
Behind us, Tina had gotten up from the floor, but was hugging Archer. He was rubbing her back and whispering something into her ear. Tina finally managed to compose herself. She looked at me, her eyes red, and she gave me a weak smile.  
"I'm sorry," she said hoarsely. "A quest isn't the best time for this."  
"It's okay," I said. "Better you break down now then in a fight, right?"  
We walked on, finally reaching the light. It opened up into a vast, dead looking plain. Gushing through the black dirt was a filthy black river with random objects floating in it. Torn up teddy bears, broken watches, somebody's college degree.  
"The River Styx," Archer said. "Where everyone's lost hopes and dreams go."  
Dakota looked at the black water and shrugged. He started to step in it when Archer shouted, "No! You step in that and you'll burn up!"  
Dakota managed to jump back, but the edge of his shoe touched the water and it sizzled, the black rubber melting.  
"Well, how do we get across?" he asked.  
We looked to our right and left, seeing if there was some bridge we could walk across. There wasn't.  
"Percy told me a story of when he was down here," Tina recalled. "He said that he had to use his powers to raise the River Styx out of the river bed so everyone could cross. If only he was here."  
Dakota and Archer exchanged a look, and I got a bad feeling.  
"Percy may not be here," Archer said with a sly grin. "but you and Tamara are."

"I'm going to kill the boys for this," I grumbled.  
Dakota and Archer's "brilliant" plan was to have me and Tina hold the water up while they walked underneath. It was hard work, trying to keep up tons of water in midair with only your mind.  
"And to think," Tina panted. "Percy did this all by himself."  
The boys had made it to the other side and were beckoning us to them. Tina and I glanced at each other. If we messed up even a tiny bit as we walked under the water we were holding, it would all come crashing down and kill us.  
We made it about halfway through when things started to go wrong. Our arms were shaking from the effort of holding the water up, and black dots were clouding my vision. Dakota and Archer yelled encouragement to us, but I knew that it wasn't going to help. Tina nearly fell on her knees, and I felt like I wasn't going to hold out much longer.  
 _"_ _Use your powers,_ _"_ someone whispered to me. _"Use_ _the wind."_  
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I registered the owner of the voice. I didn't stop to think about it though. I turned to Tina and said, "Grab my hand."  
With a great deal of effort, Tina managed to grab my hand. In my mind, I stopped holding the water and urged the wind to push us forward. We raced to the bank Dakota and Archer were standing on, the River Styx crashing down behind us. It was a race with the river, and for a second I thought we weren't going to make it. The river lapped at our heels and just when it was about to grab us, we slid onto the other river bank. Dakota and Archer dragged us away from the river as the black water splashed into the river bed. We all sat there, breathing heavily.  
"We," I panted, "are _not_ doing that again."  
"Wouldn't even think about it," Dakota said. "I thought I'd lost you."  
We looked into each other's eyes, trying to read the other person's thoughts.  
Archer stood up and helped Tina up. "Okay," he said. "let's go meet Hades."  
We turned and started walking up the hill. Dead grass crunched under our feet, and my nose stung from the stench that the river produced. At the top of the hill, we found a security system like you would find at an airport. Metal detectors scanned you, though I didn't know why, because everyone that was scanned was dead. Huge skeletons manned the gates, staring at everyone with empty black sockets. Further down, I could hear heavy booms, like a jet plane breaking the sound barrier. There were three lines that ghosts were lining up in. Bright neon signs blinked over each line, two of the signs reading: ATTENDANT ON DUTY. The third line's sign read: EZ DEATH.

I looked back at everyone. "Does anyone have the slightest clue as to which line we go in?"

Everyone stared past me at the lines. The two ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines were backed up, as skeletons typed something into computers. It took five minutes for one ghost to get through. The EZ DEATH line was cruising. Ghosts just floated on through without having to be checked by guards.

"The EZ DEATH line," we all said at the same time. No one wanted to deal with the skeletons at the computers.

We got in line behind a family of ghosts in the EZ DEATH line. A sad man and woman hovered in front of us, the man holding a little girl's hand, and the woman holding a baby. I felt a tug at my heart. What had happened to this family?

We made it through the gates without any questions and followed the steady stream of ghosts to the left. There, we found the source of the big booming sounds.

It was a huge black dog, the size of an elephant. It resembled a rottweiler, which was bad enough, but the huge dog had three heads. All of the heads had drool falling from their mouths that landed on passing ghosts. Two of the heads were looking around, surveying the area, but the middle head had caught sight of us and started growling. The growling though, sounded more like a lion's roar, (which brought back bad memories for me).

"Cerberus," Tina whispered. "Hades's pet dog."

We all stared up at the dog. How were we supposed to get past him? It seemed to have already detected that we weren't dead and was looking at us like huge dog bones.

"I think I've got the solution to our problem," Dakota said. He knelt down next to his bag and started rummaging through it. He pulled out his wand, a black one with silver trim.

"A boomerang?" Archer said. "How is that going to help us get past this monster?"

Dakota sighed and grumbled, "This is _not_ a boomerang, it's a wand!" He pointed his wand at Cerberus and started waving it back and forth. A trail of blue sparks mimicked the movement.

"Sleep," Dakota said in a calm voice. "You're tired, go to sleep."

Two of the dog head's eyes started drooping, but the third dog head still stayed attentive and alert.

"It's nap time," Dakota said. "It's okay to go to sleep, nothing will happen."

Slowly, the third dog head's eyes started drooping. The other dog heads had already fallen asleep and with a few more words from Dakota, the huge dog collapsed on the ground and started snoring like a tractor.

"I got to say," Archer said. "we should bring Egyptians on our quests more often."

We quietly walked around the sleeping dog and entered a huge empty plain. Stalactites clung to the ceiling, pointing at us like knives. A few of the sharp rocks had already fallen to the ground and dotted the plain. Ghosts were jam packed in the dead plain, floating around listlessly. They looked so sad and lonely. In the distance, I could see a island that floated in the middle of an aqua-blue ocean. The island was covered with tropical green trees and full of life. Houses were dotted on the island, and happier ghosts were living in them. To our right, screams of terror were coming from a desert that was on fire.

"How do we find Hades?" Dakota asked.

"I'm guessing he lives over in the evil black castle," Archer said, pointing to a huge black castle to our right.

It rose up into the dark black sky like a haunted house. Torches lit with green fire burned near huge metal doors. Two skeletons dressed in navy uniforms guarded the doors. Walking up to them was a person. It was hard to see who from all the way back here, but it looked like a boy, wearing basketball shorts and a purple shirt. He had a backpack slung on his shoulder and was holding something in his hand. He was definitely not a ghost.

The boy walked up to the guards and seemed to say something. They moved to stand in front of him, their arms crossed and their blank eye sockets staring at him. The boy said something else, and the guards looked at each other before slowly moving out of the boy's way and opening the doors.

The four of us exchanged glances and we started walking up to the black castle, weaving through the huge crowd of ghosts. Many of them tried to grab at us and pull us back, but all we felt were wisps of cold on our skin when they got close.

We made it to the castle and we looked up at the guards.

"Hi," I said. "Um . . . we need to speak with Lord Hades."

One of the guards said something, though all it sounded like bone grinding against bone. In my head, I could hear a raspy voice saying, _"Lord Hades sees no one."_

"But you let our . . . friend go through!" Tina said quickly. "He went on ahead of us while we talked with the guards at the gates!"

I winced. When Tina lied, her voice went up an octave. Any normal person would be able to tell that Tina wasn't telling the truth, but her lie managed to fool the two skeletons.

 _"You may enter,"_ the raspy voice said.

The guards pulled the metal doors open, and we walked inside. Behind us, the doors slammed shut. Blocking others from going in, or keeping us from leaving, I wasn't sure.

We walked down a hallway, the walls a blood-red color. A long black carpet was rolled out on the floor, leading us to a black door. We went through it and walked into a garden. The garden was beautiful and creepy at the same time. Bone-white trees were placed here and there, bearing red fruits. Black and red flower bushes were everywhere, and fountains gushed out red liquid. I got the feeling that it was blood.

We walked along a white stone path to another black door. Archer opened it, and we stepped inside. The room was a throne room. Two thrones, one an uncomfortable looking black one that had thorns all over it, and another that was silver and made of twisted tree limbs, sat at the head of the room. Around the room were more skeleton guards, some wearing old cavalry uniforms, some army uniforms, and some British navy uniforms. All held guns and, oddly enough, had brightly colored sombreros on their heads.

Sitting in the black throne was a tall man with very white skin. He had long greasy black hair and coal-black eyes that gleamed wickedly. He wore black robes that, when he shifted, showed images of people being tortured.

Standing on the ground in front of the man was the boy. Up close, I could see that he was about my age. He was as tall as Dakota and Archer, and muscular. He was tan, like he spent most of the day outside, and broad shouldered. He had a purple tattoo on the inside of his arm: the letters SPQR, crossed spears, and four score marks so it looked like:

SPQR

I I I I

The boy had bronze-brown hair that was trimmed short. And his eyes, his eyes were a chocolate-brown that made my knees feel weak.

When the boy turned to look at us, he glared at everyone and scowled. When he met my gaze though, a different expression flickered in his eyes for a millisecond.

The man in the black throne sighed and said, "Now who are these demigods? Are they with you?" he asked the boy.

"No. I have no idea who they are, Lord Hades."

So this was Hades. He was the first god I had met besides my father, and he didn't seem very god-like. More like a lazy adult who still acted like a teenager. Except for his eyes. His eyes gave me chills, like he was constantly thinking of horrible ways to kill people.

Hades stared at each of us and finally nodded. "Archer Mason, son of Apollo. Tina Gonzalez, daughter of Poseidon. Dakota Storm, magician. And, Tamara Hope, the daughter of Horus. My my my, what are you all doing here?"

"Lord Hades," I said, bowing my head. "we need your help. Zeus has been taken, and our Oracle said that you have guide to getting him back."

Hades rolled his eyes at me. "Yes yes yes, I have the guide. But what makes you think I'm going to give it to you?"

"Um. . . ." I didn't have an answer.

"Because you were going to give it to me," the boy said.

Hades stuck out his bottom lip, like he was pouting and said, "That's the thing, I don't have to give anyone anything."

"But, Lord Hades!" the boy protested.

Hades held up his hand. "What could have possibly made you children think that I would help Zeus? Or Jupiter, in your case," he said, looking at the boy

"Out of the kindness in your heart?" Archer offered.

Hades glared at him. "I have no feelings of kindness towards my brother whatsoever. Now, I think it's time you all leave. Then I can get back to my fiesta." Hades clapped his hands, and the guards advanced, pointing their guns at us.

"Goodbye. I will probably see all of you in about five hours when you come back to Underworld, dead." Hades snapped his fingers and vanished in a puff of black smoke.

I clenched my teeth, seething at how Hades had dismissed us as though we were just troublesome bugs.

The guards around us all cocked their guns and aimed.

I looked at my friends and the boy, and we all had a silent agreement. We pulled our weapons out and charged.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Okay, I know. That was stupid, five kids charging at a dozen skeletons with loaded guns. But what else were we supposed to do? Just stand there and let them shoot us?

We attacked, hacking away at the skeletons' bones. I heard gunfire, and winced at the thought of someone being shot. But no one went down. We somehow managed to dodge all of the bullets and in no time we were were standing in a ring of bones.

The boy turned and looked us. He held in his hand a golden sword that looked very sharp. He sheathed his weapon and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hi. I'm Ben Troy, son of Mars."

Archer raised his eyebrows in surprise. "A Roman," he said.

The two stared at each other, the air between them tense. I got the feeling that there was some history between the Greeks and Romans.

They finally shook hands after coming to a silent agreement.

"Nice to meet you," Archer said.

"Same."

"Hades said he wasn't going to help _Jupiter,_ " Dakota said. "Are you on a quest to find him?"

Ben nodded.

"All by yourself?" Tina asked.

"Well, I had companions but they . . . didn't make it this far," Ben said quietly.

I felt bad for him. He had lost his friends and had decided to continue the quest alone anyway.

"And you guys are searching for Zeus?" he asked us.

We all nodded.

"We left camp today," Archer said.

"Well, maybe we should join together," I ventured. "I mean, you're searching for Jupiter and we're searching for Zeus. They're the same god, right?"

"Well, actually—" Ben started to say, but Archer cut him off.

"Relatively speaking, yeah, they are the same god."

Ben shot Archer an annoyed expression but sighed in agreement. "Sure, I'll join up with you guys."

"Okay, that's great and all," Dakota said. "but we still don't have the guide."

We all groaned. I had forgotten about the guide.

"Does anyone know what it is?" Tina asked.

"Some kind of map," Ben said. "Hades keeps it with him in his room."

I raised an eyebrow. "You really think its a good idea to go searching that god's room?"

"We don't have any other choice," Dakota said. "If we want to find Zeus/Jupiter, we need that map."

"Well, I guess it's time to explore his castle," Archer said.

We looked around the room. There were three doors. One led to the garden, but we didn't know about the other two.

"Should we split up?" Archer asked. "We'll cover more ground that way."

I hated the thought of splitting up, but Archer did have a point. Plus, it would be easier to sneak around the castle unnoticed.

I nodded. "Okay. Tina and Archer, you go through that door," I said, pointing to the door behind the thrones. "And Dakota, Ben, and I will go through that door." I pointed to the door on our left.

We separated, Tina and Archer disappearing behind their door. I led the boys over to our door and opened it. It led us down a cross work of hallways. I went down them at random, not really knowing where I was going.

We walked down a hallway that opened up to a kitchen. Five skeletons wearing aprons and chef hats were cooking things over the stoves. It smelled like Mexican food, and I remembered Hades saying that we had ruined his fiesta.  
We backed up out of the kitchen, not wanting to be seen, and turned down another hallway. It led us through a door to a bathroom. The walls were black and placed in the center of the room was a golden toilet. A sign above it read: Lord Hades's Golden Throne.  
I looked back at Dakota and Ben, and they were laughing. I finally couldn't help myself. I started laughing too.  
"Well, that's embarrassing," Ben said through laughs.  
We walked back out of the bathroom and were turning down yet another hallway when we heard screaming.  
"Run!" the voice said.  
Archer.  
We took off, following the sound of pounding footsteps and shouts. We turned down a hallway to the left, and I ran straight into Tina. Ben reached out to grab me, putting his hand on my waist. Instead of keeping me up, however, I pulled him down with me.  
"Ugh," I groaned.  
"Get up now!" Archer said. He grabbed Tina's hand and pulled her up.  
Ben stood up, pulling me up with him. Just in time too, because seconds later, right where I had been sitting, a wickedly sharp, double-bladed ax lodged into the floor.  
I looked down the hallway and saw six huge skeletons running towards us. They all carried with them huge black swords and axes. The thing that made them less scary was the bright orange and green sombreros perched on their heads.  
We booked it, racing down the confusing hallways of the castle. We ran through the kitchen, startling all the cooks. Dakota ran into a chef carrying a plate of burritos, and we heard a crash. I looked back, and he had beans in his hair and a tortilla perched on his head.  
We raced through the kitchen and out into yet another hallway. (Why did there have to be so many of them?) Ben opened a door and rushed through it. We were back in the throne room.  
Somewhere behind me, I heard a yelp. I looked back and saw that one of the skeletons had reached out and tripped Tina. She fell to floor and screamed as the skeleton started dragging her back down the hallway. Archer back tracked and kicked the skeleton, sending him flying away from Tina. He helped her up and we went through the creepy garden, back through the first hallway, and out of the castle doors.  
Alarms blared outside and behind us, I could hear more guards coming. Ghosts stared at us as we raced past.  
It seemed like it took forever to run through the dead plain, but we raced through it, past Cerberus, who was still sleeping, and through the security gates. More alarms blared as we ran ran the wrong way through the gates.  
"The river!" I cried.  
We had forgotten all about that problem. Ben gave us a confused look. He ran over to a huge rock and pushed something on it. A bridge appeared out of the river.  
"How did you know that was there?" I asked him as we ran across the bridge.  
He gave me a smile that made my heart flutter and said, "The Romans at my camp took a field trip to the Underworld one time, and our not-so-smart-guide showed us the secret bridge."  
"Dang, everyone has all these cool tricks," Archer muttered.  
We pounded down the black soil tunnel and to the stone circle. Ten skeletons were now following us.  
"Quick!" Tina cried. "Find the Greek letter!"  
We searched frantically for the letter, and Ben sighed when he found it. He pressed it, but the stone didn't move.  
"What's wrong?" he cried.  
"Oh move over, Roman!" Tina yelled. She pressed the letter and it glowed blue.  
The stone started rising, and just in time too, because the skeletons were about to climb on the circle, when the tunnel disappeared from sight. We all looked at each other and sighed with relief.  
"Wait," Dakota said. "did you guys even get the map?"  
Tina and Archer smiled at each other. She pulled a yellowed and cracked paper out of her pocket. When she opened it, we saw a map of the United States and Mexico. An orange circle glowed around Chihuahua, Mexico, showing us where we were. A blue circle glowed around. . . .  
"Hawaii," Ben said. "We have to go to Hawaii."

We stopped at Taco Bell for dinner, which wasn't as good as some of the other restaurants, but it was cheap.  
"So, what's the plan?" Dakota asked with a mouthful of chicken taco in his mouth.  
"There's a train that's heading out at six," Archer said. "That will take us to Arizona. Then we'll take the pegasi and griffins and fly to Hawaii."  
"You have pegasi?" Ben asked, amazed. "And what are griffins?"  
"You'll see tomorrow morning," Dakota said in an annoyed voice.  
I looked at my watch. It was five-thirty. "How far away is this train station?"  
Archer looked at his watch. "Um, thirty minutes away, maybe."  
We all stared at Archer in with blank faces and then quickly grabbed our stuff and dashed out of Taco Bell. Outside, we raced down streets and roads, dodging people as they strolled on by calmly.  
We almost missed it. Actually, the train was leaving when we raced up. Dakota threw his bag in and hurled himself in. He then reached down to help me up, but Ben was already giving me a leg up. I caught a glimpse of a glare that Dakota gave Ben.  
Archer grabbed Tina by the waist and tossed her in. Then with a graceful jump, he was in the train with us, and we were on our way.  
We were in an empty car. There was absolutely nothing in it, and with the night fast approaching and the wind whipping through the open doors, I felt myself shiver. Dakota reached out to rub my arms, but I inched away. A hurt expression appeared on his face for a split second before he masked it with a blank stare.  
I wasn't sure what I felt towards Dakota. It was obvious that he liked me, and I thought I had started to like him back, but then Ben had popped onto the scene. Ben, who I had just barely met, yet I felt like we had had a spark instantly. But, he was a Roman. Bad enough that the Egyptians and Greeks hated each other **,** but it seemed like the Greeks had history the Romans too. What history did the Egyptians and Romans have?  
"So," Ben said. "we get to Arizona, fly to Hawaii, and then what?"  
"We start searching the islands for Zeus, or Jupiter," I said for his sake. This whole gods- having-two-names thing was giving me a headache.  
"Does anyone have the slightest clue as to who took Zeus?" Tina asked.  
We all shook our heads. I felt a nervous feeling form in my stomach. What were we walking into here?  
"Whoever or whatever took him," Archer said. "must be really powerful to have taken the king of the gods."  
With that happy thought, we all grew silent, absorbed in our own thoughts. Next to me, Tina started to fall asleep. She rested her head on Archer's shoulder. He looked down at her, and a smile formed on his face. I quickly looked away, not wanting to ruin the moment. Dakota, on my right side, shifted away from me and put his head on his leather bag. I felt bad. I hadn't meant to hurt him, but should I really lead him on when I didn't feel the same way? Of course, I didn't really know what I felt at the moment.  
Finally, Dakota's breathing slowed, and he went to sleep. I looked around the car, seeing if anyone was still awake. Archer had rested his head on top of Tina's and was sound asleep, a smile on his face. Next to him was Ben. He had unsheathed his sword and was cleaning it with a rag. I sat there for a second, looking at him, and then I decided to go sit by him. I got up quietly and walked over to him, wobbling with the movement of the train.  
He looked up when I walked over and said, "Hey."  
"Hi," I said, sitting next to him.  
We sat there in silence for a moment when he said quietly, "So, you're the daughter of Horus?"  
"Yeah. I found out yesterday."  
"And you're the only daughter of Horus?"  
"The only child of an Egyptian god actually. Really, I wasn't supposed to be born." I felt a sadness come over me when I said that. It was the truth though. I had been born because Horus had broken a pact.  
"So, why are you on a quest to find Jupiter then?" Ben asked, confused.  
I sighed. "My mother was a daughter of Zeus, which makes me the granddaughter of Zeus."  
"So, you combine the blood of two very powerful gods," Ben said in awe. "You must be one powerful demigod."  
"Yeah, that's what everyone keeps telling me. And I wish they wouldn't because it scares me when they talk about it." I didn't know why I was telling him this. I just felt like I could trust him, even though I had met him only a few hours ago.  
"Oh, sorry," Ben said quickly. "We can talk about something else then."  
I gave him a small smile. "Thanks. So, do you mind me asking what happened on your quest?"  
Ben sighed. "We left our camp in California yesterday. Things started off badly from the start. We were attacked by a Cyclops clan just outside of California. And then a wild pack of centaurs came after us. They killed everyone in the middle of the night except for me, because I had gone off to get some firewood."  
"Wow. I'm so sorry," I said to him.  
He gave me a weak smile. "It's fine. That's just how life is as a demigod."  
We sat there, looking outside the door at the landscape. In the distance, I saw a pack of coyotes chasing something.  
I shivered in the cold, wishing that I had packed some clothes. My thin top wasn't made to wear in the desert at night.  
Ben saw me shaking and dug in his backpack. He pulled out a gray pullover and handed it to me.  
"Here, I don't need it."  
I smiled at him and put it on. It smelled like a pool, like Ben swam a lot. I put my head back and felt my eyes start to close. I slowly let my head fall on Ben's shoulder, and he shifted so my head was more supported. I sighed, content, and let sleep overtake me.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

I woke up from my peaceful sleep to someone shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked into Ben's chocolate-brown eyes.  
"What's going on?" I asked.  
"Archer woke me up. He said we need to get off the train before we get into the station."  
I looked around the car. Tina and Archer were leaning half-way out of the car, looking at the land racing by. Dakota was digging in his bag for something. I tried to catch his eye, but he wouldn't look at me. I had a feeling he had seen me sleeping on Ben's shoulder.  
Archer looked back at us and said, "Okay, we have to jump off."  
"You want us to _jump_ off?" I asked.  
Archer nodded and gave me a smile like it was something he did every day.  
Ben slung his bag on his shoulder and stood next to Archer by the door. He prepped himself and jumped out. He rolled on the ground and hopped up to his feet like he did it daily. Dakota came up behind me, grabbed my hand, and pulled us out. We hit the ground, and I felt a shock go through my body as we rolled over each other. We stopped moving and I opened my eyes. Dakota was on top of me. I quickly pushed him off and stood up, looking over at Ben. He was watching the train, ignoring me and Dakota.  
Up on the train, Archer was holding Tina's hand and saying something to her. She nodded and they jumped off. They landed in the dirt, their hands interlaced.  
Dakota whistled loudly, and we waited. A minute later, four forms appeared in the sky, flying towards us. They landed next to us with neighs and squawks.  
"So _these_ are griffins?" Ben asked, walking up to mine.  
It squawked and rubbed its head against Ben's arm.  
"They're weird looking," he said.  
"Not any weirder than a pegasus," Dakota said defensively. He mounted his ride and looked down at us, waiting.  
"Okay," Archer said. "I'm guessing everyone is going to be hungry soon, so I'm thinking we fly into a town and eat before heading off to Hawaii."  
We had Ben ride on Tina's pegasus and Tina ride with Archer. We didn't have to fly for long. A small town was just fifteen minutes away and, after leaving our mounts behind an abandoned factory, we walked into a nearby cafe. As we entered, Tina, Archer, Dakota, and I were wary. The last hole-in-the-wall restaurant we had walked into had been owned by sirens, but thankfully, this cafe was monster free.

We ate quickly and got back on our mounts, heading for Hawaii. Archer said the trip would take four hours, which would give me plenty of time to think. Too much time actually. I felt like ten different emotions were rolling inside of me. I was nervous, scared, confused, angry. . . . I didn't know what to do about all of it. We were flying to Hawaii, where we were supposedly going to fight and defeat someone powerful enough to take Zeus. We still had a ways to go, leaving room for yet another attack by some monster. I was still angry at Horus, even though he had taken a step to connect with me. And then there was the confusion of Dakota and Ben. Dakota hadn't said a word to me since we had jumped off the train. He was acting as though I had broken up with him, and it wasn't fair, because we weren't even together. I didn't understand what attracted me to Ben so much. There was just something about him that I couldn't help but like, something that Dakota didn't have.

Below us, small towns and cities went by, along with vast, barren desert. Soon, we flew over the border between Arizona and California. California didn't look much different from the plain deserts of Arizona, except for the fact that there was a significant amount of palm trees everywhere.

We flew over California rather quickly, and were flying over deep-blue oceans when something felt wrong. Our mounts started to drop altitude rather quickly and their breathing became labored. We slowed our mounts to a slower speed.

"Archer, what's going on?" Ben asked.

"I don't know. They've gotten plenty of rest. I don't know what the deal is."

A tremor went through the air and our mounts stopped flying. We free-fell towards the ocean, screaming at our rides to start flying again. It didn't work. We hit the water with a huge splash and I felt the cold surround me. I started to panic as I sank into the deep water, thinking about drowning and things coming to eat me.

 _Calm down,_ I told myself. _You know how to swim._ I kicked to the surface of the water and gasped for air. I blinked my eyes and looked around. The only person I could see was Tina. She was standing _on top_ of the water, a look of concentrating on her face.

"Tina!" I cried. "Where's everyone else?"

"I don't know! I can't see them!"

I took a deep breath and dove back under. I searched frantically in the dark water for someone. There! It was Dakota, sinking into a black void, bubbles escaping from his mouth. I swam furiously to him and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I focused on the water around me and asked it to propel us forward. I asked too much though, because we broke the surface of the water so fast my ears popped. Tina was nowhere in sight, probably searching for Archer and Ben. The pegasi and griffins had made their way to the surface and were swimming towards a small island to our left. I willed the water to push us towards it and we made our way after the animals.

We washed up ashore and I laid Dakota on the sand. He still wasn't breathing and a bump was forming on his head. Had one of the animals kicked him?

I started chest compressions, trying to force the water out of his lungs. Behind me, I heard Tina struggling with something. Probably with Archer or Ben. I heard coughing and a sigh of relief from Tina.

Dakota still wasn't breathing, and I was tempted to go mouth to mouth, when Tina knelt on the sand next to me and put her hand on his chest. She moved it up his neck and to his mouth, and a trail of water flowed out. Dakota took in a shaky breath and started coughing.

"Oh, thank goodness," I said. I watched Dakota as he rolled over to his stomach and started throwing up water.

Sounds of swimming came from the ocean. I turned and saw Ben swimming to shore, completely at ease, even though he had a heavy golden sword weighing him down. He reached the sand and pulled himself up to his feet, dripping wet. Dakota next to me had stopped coughing and was now rubbing his head.

"Ugh. What happened?" he asked groggily.

"Something knocked us out of the sky," Archer said.

"Yes," a new voice said. "I did."

We turned and looked towards the trees of the island. A gorgeous woman was sitting gracefully on top of a rock, looking down at us. She was dressed in a pure-white dress, which complimented her dark skin greatly. She had straight, long black hair that fell down to the middle of her back and lining her light amber-brown eyes was what looked like black eyeliner. She got down from her rock and walked barefoot on the white sand towards us. Dakota knelt before her and we followed his example.

"Ah, Dakota Storm," the woman said. "You are looking so much like your father these days."

"Lady Isis," Dakota said. "It's an honor."

 _Isis? Is she another Egyptian god?_ I thought. _What does she want?_

Isis looked over us, curling her lip at Tina, Archer, and Ben. But when she looked at me, a smirk formed on her face. "Tamara Hope, the daughter of Horus. You look like a princess alright, though I would have preferred Horus have had a son."

I clenched my teeth, trying to control my irritation.

Isis sighed. "You may all rise."

We all did as we were told and looked at her expectantly.

"Lady Isis," Dakota ventured. "do you need a task completed?"

"Why, yes I do. It seems that someone has stolen the crown that Horus made for me. I need you and Tamara to retrieve it."

"But, Isis," Ben started to protest.

Isis whipped her head to look at him and her eyes glowed slightly. "Ben Troy, son of Mars, I did not give you permission to speak, so you will not. I am well aware of your quest to find Zeus, or Jupiter, whatever you want to call that _lowly_ god. Dakota and Tamara _will_ find my crown and bring it to me. Your search for the sky god can wait."

I felt goose bumps form on the back of my neck. How dare she call Zeus a lowly god! And she couldn't talk to Ben like that! I was liking Isis less and less.

She turned back to look at Dakota and I. "You will find my crown in the cave of Petsuchos," she said, pointing in the direction of the jungle forest.

Dakota made a choking sound and paled. That wasn't good.

"You have two hours to retrieve my crown," Isis said. "Or you will not have enough time to reach Hawaii and find Zeus. So, I suggest you get going."

We started hiking, leaving our friends back on the beach with Isis. I didn't feel good about leaving Tina, Archer, and Ben with the goddess, but Isis had insisted that only those of Egyptian blood were worthy enough to fight Petsuchos.

I didn't have any clue as to who Petsuchos was, but Dakota knew, and he was too scared to share. We hiked the jungle in silence, navigating our way through the dense, humid trees. Dakota slashed at leaves blocking our way, his _khopesh_ cutting through them easily.

"Dakota," I pressed. "who's Petsuchos?"

Dakota looked back to me, his mouth set in a straight line. "He's a monster that was created by the god Sobek. He's the largest crocodile ever created; fifteen feet long, jaws that can snap elephant's bones in half. And worse, Petsuchos is intelligent. He can talk and can calculate your every move. No one has ever killed him."

I stopped walking, fear taking over me. No one had ever killed him? What made Isis think that we could?

 _Unless she knows we can't kill it,_ I thought. _Then Dakota and I would die and everyone else wouldn't be able to complete the quest._

Dakota walked back over to me and took my hand. "Hey, it's going to be okay. We'll make it through this, together."

I gave him a tight smile and allowed him to pull me ahead. I couldn't shake the feeling that I could hear Isis laughing at us as we ventured off to kill an undefeated monster.

We finally hiked to the end of the forest and found the opening of a cave. It stared at us, daring us to enter. Dakota and I looked at each other and we stepped into the cave. It smelled terrible, like rotting fish and seaweed all mixed together. I could hear the crunch of bones underneath my feet and I cringed.

Dakota held out his hand and whispered something. A small orb of blue light appeared in his hand, lighting the way for us. The walls of the cave were moist and slimy. Littering the ground were hundreds of fish bones, some old, yellowed, and cracked. Others were a dirty white. And then there were others that looked very, very fresh. The smell of them made me want to hurl.

We walked deeper into the cave, the cold air making me shiver. The stench grew stronger as we walked, making me gag. Twice I nearly threw up but managed not to.

We heard the sounds of snoring, which sounded more like a mini avalanche. We tried to quiet our steps as we got closer. Dakota and I reached the back of the cave and found the largest reptile I had ever seen. It was curled up in a huge ball of green scaly skin. The monster's head was huge, its jaws big enough to grab me whole. Attached to his head was golden armor that ran the length of the monster's back, like he needed protection. Clutched in one of his claws was a golden crown, sapphires and rubies embedded in it.

Isis's crown.

Dakota and I looked at each other, trying to decide the easiest way to retrieve the crown. There was no way we could kill the thing with one swipe of a sword, and I did not want to see that monster awake. But his black claws were clenched around the crown, holding it tightly.

Dakota next to me suddenly stood up straighter. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back up the cave and away from Petsuchos.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him. "We have to get that crown, or we're going to have a very angry goddess on our hands."

Dakota held his hands up in a placating gesture. "I know. But I have an idea. That thing is huge and probably weighs a few thousand pounds. There's no way it will be able to move fast enough to catch us if we're running with the help of the wind."

"Okay . . . how does this help us?" I asked.

"We can cut off the foot that's holding the crown," he said.

A smile formed on my face. "We could. Our swords should be able to cut through his foot at least. And then we'll have any even bigger advantage, since he'll be chasing us with only three feet."

"And that would be a wonderful plan," a very scratchy and deep voice said. "except you just woke up the monster you were going to attack."

My back tensed and Dakota froze in fear. We slowly turned around and looked into very big yellow eyes, staring at us hungrily. We had woken up Petsuchos.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Petsuchos smiled a crocodile grin (literally), revealing several hundred yellowed teeth. I heard myself whimper in fear.

"Dakota Storm, the son of Chief Lector Storm. Wonderful! And . . . Tamara Hope. My my my, the daughter of Horus. Isis does know a hero when she sees one. Alas, I will have to kill the both of you. I haven't had a human in several years, and I'm very hungry."

I gulped, trying to choke down my fear.

Dakota raised his sword and said, "No. We're leaving this cave alive, with the crown."

Petsuchos chuckled deeply, finding Dakota humorous. "Ah, Dakota Storm, your bravery is commendable. I will give you that."

"Just give us the crown, Petsuchos," I said, pointing my own sword at him.

"Ah, Tamara Hope, you really are your father's daughter. But I am hungry, and it is rare for food to come into my cave so willingly." He snarled at us and opened his big jaws.

"Split!" Dakota cried. He dove to the left.

I rolled to my right and Petsuchos got a mouth full of dirt. He hissed at us and started pounding his feet against the floor. The cave started shaking and chunks of rock fell down around us. I had to dodge a huge chunk of rock, but it clipped my foot. I fell to the floor right in front of Petsuchos. He grinned his crocodile grin at me and opened his mouth. I rolled backwards to move out of his strike, but he grabbed my leg and started to bite down. I screamed in pain as his teeth grated against my bone. Out of nowhere, a wand flew into Petsuchos's eye. He yelled and released my leg. I pulled myself away, trying not to look at the damage he had done.

Dakota stood in front of me, holding his staff. He said a command and struck his staff downwards. A huge blast of wind blew Petsuchos back. The heavy reptile ran into the back wall of the cave, causing even more rocks to fall down around us.

Dakota ran after Petsuchos. He sprinted up the monster's tail to his back and unsheathed his sword. Petsuchos started writhing, trying to throw Dakota off. Dakota raised his sword and thrust it into the beast. Petsuchos cried out in pain and slammed against a wall, pinning Dakota.

I looked down around me. My sword was three-feet away, I could reach it easily. And if I let my avatar take control, I might be able to fight even with my injured leg. The only problem was, my avatar was taller than the roof of the cave. If I summoned it, I would break through the ceiling and that could cause a lot of damage to Dakota. I didn't really have a choice though. I focused on the fear in my stomach and I felt power course through me. I was encased in my golden sphere as my avatar appeared. It pressed against the ceiling of the cave, the space around me getting smaller and smaller. I tensed my back and forced my way through. The roof of the cave exploded as I broke through. Huge slabs of rock fell all around me. Below me, Petsuchos and Dakota disappeared in a heap of rock. I walked over to them as best I could and started lifting the stone away. Dakota was lying on the filthy floor, his eyes closed. He had a cut on his forehead. Petsuchos was awake, however, and hissed at me angrily.

"So, you've been blessed with special powers," he said. "No matter, so have I." He grinned and started glowing green. He rose into a green sphere, and soon there was a giant glowing green version of the monster, which now towered ten feet higher than my own avatar. I felt my knees shaking. How was I supposed to kill this thing?

 _Maybe I'm not supposed to,_ I thought. _All I need is to get Dakota and the crown, and then I can run back to Isis and she'll take care of the rest. But where is the crown?_

During the fight, Petsuchos had lost his hold on the crown. I had no idea if it was buried under tons of rock or if it had flown off somewhere nearby.

Petsuchos snapped his jaws and rushed at me. His huge green form slammed into my golden one and I fell to the earth. He stood on top of me, grinning.

"Ha, Tamara Hope, Isis was a fool to think that you and your friend could defeat me. Now, prepare to die." He opened his mouth and started to bite into my shoulder.

"No," I said, though my voice didn't sound like my voice. It sounded like I had two voices overlapping one another.

"I will not be the one dying today," my weird voice said. I grabbed his jaws with my hands and started pulling them apart.

Petsuchos went crazy with pain. He struggled in my grasp, but I held him tight. I kept pulling and I heard a loud crack. Petsuchos roared with pain as his jaw bones were torn apart. His green form flickered and then died. The large crocodile fell to the floor and laid there, breathing heavily. He wasn't going anywhere. He couldn't do anything to me or Dakota now that his jaw was broken.

I shrank back to my body and walked up to the monster. "Let this be a lesson," I said. "You do _not_ want to test me, because I'm the Princess of War." I took the butt of my sword and slammed it into Petsuchos's eye, knocking him out.

I suddenly felt weak. My leg throbbed from the severe wound Petsuchos had inflicted on me. I felt lightheaded and my stomach churned. I couldn't pass out though. Not now. Petsuchos wouldn't be out for long, and he could probably still kill us if we were still here when he woke up. And Dakota and I needed medical attention. He had blood dripping down his face and I didn't even have to look at my leg to know that it was bad. But I still needed the crown!

As best as I could, I limped around the fallen rocks, searching for the crown. I was tempted to go back into my avatar so I could lift most of the rock away, but when I tried, I wasn't able to summon it. I had tapped out all my strength for now.

I searched as best as I could for the crown, but couldn't find. I knew that it was somewhere under the rocks, but no way did I have the strength to lift them. I looked back at Dakota and cringed. He had even more blood on his face, and I decided that he needed to get help now. I limped over to him and with a great deal of difficulty, managed to put his arm around my shoulder. I started to limp forward, when I noticed something shining on the ground. I looked back at where Dakota had been lying, and felt a smile grow on my face. The crown. It had been under Dakota the whole time!

I quickly grabbed the stupid thing and put it in my bag. Then I proceeded to walk forward, tugging Dakota along with me.

The hike to the beach took longer than when going to the cave, seeing as I was limping and carrying Dakota's dead weight with me. I finally made it back, where Tina, Archer, and Ben were sitting in the sand and looking over the map. Isis was yet again perched on her rock, watching them. When we stumbled into view, Tina and Ben jumped up and rushed over to help me. Isis, for a split second, looked like she had a sneer on her face, but then replaced it with a radiant smile. Archer grabbed his backpack and rummaged through it, finally pulling out a First-Aid kit.

"Oh my gosh! Tamara, what happened?" Tina asked as she took Dakota from me.

I collapsed in the sand and blinked away the black dots in my vision. "Petsuchos? Yeah, he's an enormous crocodile that can talk. And to make matters worse, he can summon an avatar too."

"Did you kill the beast?" Isis asked, gliding over to us.

"No. The best I could do was break his jaw and knock him out."

Isis scoffed. "Sobek was right when he said no magician would be powerful enough to defeat his creation. I would have thought that at least the daughter of Horus could do it, but I guess I was wrong."

Ben got up from his seat next to me and stormed over to Isis. "Look lady," he said. "It's pretty amazing that Tamara and Dakota got away from Petsuchos alive. Not only that, Tamara managed to inflict a serious injury on him. You think she's not worthy enough? Well, you're wrong. And you're cruel, sending them to go get your crown. If you're _so_ powerful, why didn't you just go get it for yourself?"

Everyone was silent, fearful at what Isis would do to Ben. Her eyes glowed dangerously bright and a rainbow of colors started glowing around her. Ben just stared at her hard, waiting for her response.

Isis clenched her hand and a ball of fire appeared. She was about to chuck it at Ben's face, when she hesitated. She cocked her head to the side, like she was listening to something, and then she growled.

"Ben Troy, because you have Mars's blessing upon you, I cannot touch you. But be warned: you have terrible things in your future, and know that I will be the cause of some of them." She turned to me and held out her hand. "Return my crown to me."

I quickly dug it out of my bag and gave it to her.

She grasped it and then addressed us all. "I am warning you all now. What you face in Hawaii is extremely powerful. It would be easier if you just turned back now and left Zeus." She then glowed brightly.

We all covered our eyes at the light as Isis disappeared, leaving us on the beach alone.

Archer turned his attention to my leg. "Oh my gosh."

I finally looked down at my leg. It was bad. The cut was at least twenty-inches long, and so deep that I could see my bone. The skin around the cut was red and blood was pouring out from it. I felt myself go faint and my eyes started to close. Archer looked up from cleaning my leg and his eyes widened.

"Tamara, you can't pass out on me. You have to stay awake."

"I . . . can't," I mumbled.

"Tamara, focus on my voice," Ben said. "Come on."

"I—I . . . uh." My eyes shut and the world around me went black.

For some reason, when people passed out, I thought they were just in a dark void, not aware of anything. That wasn't the case with me. I fell into a dream. I was on top of some mountain, looking down at a blue ocean and a white beach. To the right of the beach was a city, where tall buildings rose up to the sky, and cars drove through streets. Trees blooming with colorful flowers were everywhere.

The mountain I was standing on was covered with green grass. In the middle of the mountain was a golden pole. Chained to it was a man. He had muscled arms, and gray and black hair fell down to his shoulders. He had pale skin and a black beard. When he looked up, he had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. They looked just like the sky.

Zeus.

Facing Zeus, with his back turned to me, was another man. He was dressed in a black cloak with his face hidden. He was saying something to Zeus that I couldn't make out. Zeus lashed out, trying to reach the cloaked man, but his chains cut him short. The cloaked man laughed wickedly.

To the right of me, another cloaked figure was climbing up the mountain. This person was smaller and thinner, and I could tell it was a woman. She walked up to the cloaked man and knelt down before him.

"My Lord," she said.

The voice sounded familiar, but the dream made it sound fuzzy and distorted.

"My Lord, the quest party is still on their way. Petsuchos failed us."

The cloaked man turned and looked at her. "No matter, we will defeat them easily."

"But, my Lord, Tamara Hope. . . ."

"Do not say her name around me!" the man cut in. " _I_ will deal with her myself."

"Yes, my Lord," the woman said, lowering her head.

The dream dissolved, and I felt myself floating up high into the air as the mountain, beach, and city disappeared.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

I woke up flying in the sky, which greatly alarmed me. You ever pass out on land and then wake up flying? Yeah, it's quite a shock.

I looked around frantically. I was flying on a pegasus with Ben. He had one hand on the reins, the other on my waist to keep me from falling off. Flying in front of us was Archer on his pegasus. Tina and Dakota were flanking Ben and I, Tina on my griffin. Dakota, on my right, looked tired and worn out. His skin was a bit pale and he had a bandage wrapped around his head.

"How are you feeling?" Ben's voice asked in my ear.

I felt goosebumps on my arms at the fact that he had his arms around me.

"Um, kind of startled as to why I'm flying. And, I had a weird dream."

"About?"

"Zeus. He's on a mountain that looks down at the beach. He's tied to a golden pole."

"Did you see his captor?" Dakota asked.

"I did, but not his face. There's a woman working with him too, and her voice sounded familiar."

Dakota frowned and his eyebrows crept together.

I looked down at the scenery. We were still flying over the ocean. A huge yacht was below us, party music blasting through the stereo. Hundreds of people covered the decks, all holding drinks and dancing.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"About an hour away from Hawaii," Tina said. "Archer said that once we get there, we'll find a place to stop and rest."

"What happened while I was out?"

"Well, Archer did as best as he could to fix your leg up. It's really bad though, Tamara."

I looked down at my leg. It was wrapped up in a ton of white gauze, and even with all the gauze, I could see blood seeping through.

"We then waited for Dakota to wake up, and then we got on our rides and started flying." Tina finished.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"An hour, maybe?" Dakota said. "Archer was worried when you passed out. He was afraid you had gone into shock. But as it turned out, you were just sleeping, and he said that it was a good thing."

"So, did you get a location as to where Zeus is?" Tina asked.

"No. But if we flew over the mountain, I would know."

"Oh great," Dakota said. "Do you know how many mountains there are in the Hawaii islands?"

I frowned. "Well, we have to go ever one of them until we find Zeus then."  
We were quiet after that, focused on our own thoughts. In the distance, a green island could be seen. Forty-five minutes later, we flew over the island. We had made it. We had reached Hawaii alive.

Archer guided us too a dense jungle away from the city to hide the animals. Then Dakota summoned the black SUV and we drove into town.

We stopped to get some food and ate outside. Tina pulled the map out of her pocket and opened it.

"Oh, whoa," she said with a mouth-full of fish taco.

The map had changed. It was now zoomed in on Hawaii. The blue circle was now hovering over a huge mountain north of where we were.

"Well, that's convenient," Archer said.

"Now all we need to do is ask someone where exactly that mountain is!" I said excitedly. We were that much closer to finding Zeus!

"Um, guys?" Ben said. "Why are the griffins flying over to us?"

We all looked up in the sky. Two griffins were flying towards us, but they looked, different. As they got closer, we realized that they weren't our griffins. These griffins were coal black and had glowing red eyes. Their beaks flashed in the sunlight, like they were made of steel. Their wings looked like they were made up of knives woven together.

"Run!" Tina cried.

We grabbed our bags and made a wild dash for the SUV. We never got to it though. The griffins flew in front of us and landed, screeching at us. They looked vicious, their red eyes glowing brightly.

We drew our weapons and stood back to back. The griffins circled us, crawling on the ground like huge black cats.

"Dakota, what are these things?" Archer cried, aiming an arrow at a griffin's eyes.

"No clue! These are _not_ normal griffins!" Dakota said, swinging his sword back and forth.

One of the griffins turned and looked straight at me. It stared at me with its red eyes, and I heard a voice speaking in my head.

 _"He will spare you,"_ the voice said. _"My Lord has a part for you to play in his plan. All you have to do is betray your friends."_

"Never!" I said out loud.

Everyone stared at me with strange looks.

 _"As you wish, Princess of War. Prepare to die."_

The griffin lashed at me, his beak aimed at my chest. I took my sword and sliced at the griffin. I cut a gash onto his shoulder. But the griffin didn't bleed blood or golden monster guts. It was. . . .

"Oil!" I cried to everyone else. "They bleed oil! These things are machines!"

We fought with the griffins, trying to avoid their sharp beaks and knife wings. Dakota said Egyptian spell after Egyptian spell. Archer shot arrows over and over again at their eyes. Tina summoned water from a fountain and was whipping it at the monsters. And Ben was a machine. I had never seen anything like him. He was a master with his sword, acting as though it was just a part of his body.

"Guys, we're going to get more company," Archer said.

I looked up into the sky. Three more of the mechanical griffins were flying towards us.

"Alright," I growled. "That's it." I summoned my avatar. I could feel the power coursing through me, though I wasn't at my strongest because of my leg injury. I pointed my sword at the griffins fighting my friends.

"Leave now," I said with my new weird voice. "Leave now and never come back."

The griffins screeched at me.

I raised my sword and swung it at one of them. Its head flew off, crashing into a park bench. The other griffin looked at me angrily and then took to the air. It flew to its companions, and I could hear it screeching something at them. They screeched back and turned around.

I shrank back to my normal form and collapsed to the ground. Two hours had not given me enough time to recover from my fight with Petsuchos.

My friends stared at me with wide-eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"It's just, I've never seen anything like that," Dakota said. "The way your eyes glow and the hieroglyphics on your arms and legs. And when did you start talking with two voices?"

I shrugged. "A new thing, I guess."

"Did those griffins come from the person who took Zeus?" Tina asked.

I nodded. "One of them talked to me. He said that I could join him if I wanted to. All I had to do was betray you guys, which I would never ever do." I smiled at each of them.

Ben sighed and sheathed his sword. "Okay, I say let's go find someone to tell us where that mountain is."

We left the SUV where it was and walked around the town. Well, more like I limped. The town looked exactly like a picture on a Hawaiian postcard. Little shops were everywhere, selling tikis and grass skirts and coconut bras. Small cafes were placed here and there, all smelling of delicious food. Surf shops were on every block, crowded with boys who were all tan, shirtless, and smelling of the beach.

We walked into a library and up to the counter. A heavy-set woman with very thick black hair and a kind smile looked up when we walked in. She wore a pink shirt, a long skirt, and had a yellow hibiscus in her hair.

"Aloha!" she said. "What can I help you with?"

Tina pulled the map out of her pocket and opened it. "We were wondering where this mountain is."

The woman looked at the map intently and then looked up. "Well, that's the Koolau Mountains. They're about thirty minutes away from here by car. You just drive north and a sign will point you in the right direction."

"Thank you so much!" we said, walking as fast as we could out of the library and to the SUV. We climbed into the car and Dakota started driving north.

We all sat there in silence, all nervous. This was it. We were driving to the mountain that Zeus was on. We were about to fight and hopefully defeat Zeus's captor.

I glanced back at Tina, Archer, and Ben. All of them were looking out the windows. Tina and Archer's hands were interlaced tightly. Ben looked at me with his deep brown eyes and smiled slightly. Everyone was too nervous to talk.

We passed a wooden sign pointing to the left. It read: Koolau Mountains, 10 miles.

Dakota turned down the dirt road and we started driving up an incline. All around us were green trees, waterfalls and beautiful flowers.

Dakota parked the car at the base of the mountain. We all climbed out and looked up at it. The mountain was tall and there wasn't a path leading up to the top.

"I guess we climb," Ben said. He slung his backpack onto his shoulders and started climbing up the side of the mountain, grasping for rocks as hand holds.

We followed him up. The climb was hard. Several times one of us would slip and nearly fall to our death. My leg throbbed from my injury. My hand slipped and I banged against the side of the mountain. My leg ran into a sharp rock and I cried out in pain. Fresh blood started gushing through the gauze. I couldn't help but wish that we had the pegasi and griffins with us.

Ben finally made it to the top. He reached down and with one effortless lift, pulled me up. He looked into my eyes and held my hand.

I blushed and looked down. "Thanks," I whispered.

"Okay, sorry to ruin your moment here," Archer grunted. "but other people need to get up."

Ben and I blushed. He let go of my hand and helped Archer up and then held out a hand for Dakota. He refused though, giving Ben a glare.

I turned to look around. It was exactly like it had been in my dream. There was the beach, the city, and standing in the middle of the mountain was the golden pole. Chained to it, his shirt torn off and golden blood flowing from his chest, was Zeus.

"Zeus!" I said.

We rushed over to the chained god. He looked up at us, his sky-blue eyes looking annoyed.

"About time you guys got here," he said. "Let's see, who did they send to rescue me?" He looked over each of us and grunted. "Archer Mason, son of Apollo, good good. Tina Gonzalez, daughter of _Poseidon_. Well, at least you're Greek. Ben Troy, the son of Mars. So the Romans do care about me!" For a second, Zeus's form flickered. He turned into a taller man with black hair cropped short and a purple cape draped on his back. Then he turned back into Zeus.

"Gah!" he cried. "I hate when that happens!" He shook his head and looked at Dakota. A disgusted sneer formed on his face. "Dakota Storm, an _Egyptian_. What are _you_ doing here? And . . . Tamara Hope, my granddaughter, and the daughter of Horus. Oh boy, this is going to be interesting. . . ."

I frowned at Zeus. "I'm sorry, my Lord, but what is going to be interesting?"

Zeus smiled. "Oh, you're in for a real shock my girl. All of you are actually."

"What are you talking about?" Dakota asked, annoyed.

"Well, he's talking about me, of course," a man said.

My eyes widened with shock. I _knew_ that voice. I heard it whenever I got my avatar. I had heard it in a dream. I turned around and felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I couldn't breathe. I felt like the world was spinning out of control.

It was the cloaked man from my dream. He wasn't wearing his cloak though, and without it, I was staring at a tall man with muscled arms, broad shoulders, and a bald head. He wore leather armor and had a sword strapped to his side. One gold eye and one silver eye stared into mine.

Horus.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

"No," I whispered. "No no no! You can't be the bad guy!" I felt tears welling up in my eyes. How could this be? This was my father, who said he cared about me. He had sent me a beautiful sword and a note, which I still had in my pocket. Why had he taken Zeus?

Horus looked at me and frowned. "Tamara, you don't understand. I won't be the king of the gods until I get rid of Zeus. As long as he's around, I'll just be a _minor_ king."

"No!" I cried, tears streaming down my face. "You can't do this! It's wrong!"

"Tamara, he is a threat to me. He has to be rid of."

"No!" I screamed. I knot of anger grew in my stomach and I felt really hot.

My friends backed away from me, fear in their eyes.

"Tamara . . . what are you doing?" Ben said.

I looked down and saw that I was glowing gold. Hieroglyphics were burning on my arms and legs. My _khopesh_ was burning brightly.

"Tamara, please," Horus said. "I'll give you another chance. You can still join me. Any of you," he said, addressing my friends. "Any of you can join me as well."

Everyone stayed next to me, glaring at Hours.

Except Dakota.

Something had changed about his stance. He stood rigid, like his back was a rod. His entire body was flexed, ready to fight, his mouth set in a hard line. He walked over to Horus and stood on his right side.

Tears streamed down my face. How could Dakota do this? How could he leave us for Horus?

"I'm sorry, Tamara," Dakota said. "But my duty is to follow Horus, not Zeus." He drew his sword and pointed it at us.

Horus next to him laughed. "Ah, well this is quite exciting. Now, if only she would hurry up and get here."

"I'm sorry, we're waiting on someone?" Archer asked.

"Well, me, of course," a woman's voice said. Isis's voice. She was hovering in the air, her precious crown perched on her head and rainbow wings sprouting from her shoulders.

"You're working for Horus?" Archer asked.

"Why, of course. He's my son," Isis said, as though it was obvious.

Pieces started coming together in my head. Our crash landing in the ocean. Dakota and I being sent to fight Petsuchos. . . .

"You wanted us to die," I said. "You tried to kill us by knocking us out of the sky. When that didn't work, you _gave_ your crown to Petsuchos and acted like he had taken it. Then you wanted him to kill us. But he failed."

Isis grinned wickedly. "Very good, Princess of War. You now see the whole picture!"

"Alright, enough talk," Horus said. "Tamara, if you aren't going to follow me, then I'll just have to kill you." He drew his sword and rushed me.

My friends attacked. Tina went to fight Isis, who was throwing glowing blue orbs at her. Dakota and Ben went sword to sword. Archer rushed over to Zeus and started breaking his chains. And I took on my father.

Horus swung his sword at me, and I rolled out of the way. I tried to hit him in the back of his legs, but with a wave of his hand, my sword was deflected. He thrust his hand out, and I flew through the air, landing next to Zeus. I hit the back of my head on a rock and my vision went black.

"Get up girl, now!" Zeus warned.

My eyes snapped open and I madly dove to the right. Horus had been about to slice me in half. Zeus kicked his leg out and tripped Horus, who did a face plant in some mud.

I quickly got up to my feet and braced myself. Horus lifted himself off the ground and thrust his arms out. A huge flame of fire in the shape of a falcon flew at me. I closed my eyes and held my hands up, preparing to get scorched. The flames never hit me though. Instead, they hovered in front of me, responding to my elementalist powers. I grinned and thought in my mind, _Bigger!_

The flame grew three sizes. I crushed my hand into a fist and the flame turned into a huge fireball. I shot it back at Horus. It hit him in the chest and sent him flying back. He ran into Zeus's pole with a clang and went limp.

To my right, Dakota and Ben were on the ground, rolling over one another. Dakota took the tip of his sword and slid it across Ben's face. Ben yelled in pain and hit Dakota in the eye with the butt of his sword. Both of them crawled away from each, trying to recover.

Farther to my right, Tina and Isis were having a water war. Isis was throwing ice balls and ice cycles at Tina, who had created her own miniature hurricane. She had water swirling around her, deflecting all of Isis's strikes. And then, when Isis wasn't attacking, Tina would make a whip out of water and hit her with it.

I had looked away for too long. While I hadn't been paying attention, Horus had recovered and had moved around me. Zeus shouted at me to pay attention, but I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. Horus grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me back. I found a sword at my throat.

"Stop what you're doing," Horus told Archer, who had been about to break one of Zeus's chains.

Archer dropped his knife and backed away from Zeus.

"Stop fighting!" Horus shouted to Tina and Ben.

They turned to look at us and immediately dropped their weapons. Dakota took Ben's arm and pinned it behind his back. Isis threw a spell at Tina that froze her.

"Now," Horus said. "you are all going to leave right now, or Tamara dies."

"Dad," I pleaded, trying not to move. "please, don't do this."

The sword dug into my throat and drew blood.

"Quiet," Horus said. He turned to the rest of my friends. "Go on! Get off this mountain!"

All of my friends exchanged looks with each other. They had absolutely no idea as to what they should do. They couldn't attack Horus because he would kill me. But they couldn't leave me either.

All of the sudden, a fierce neigh pierced the air. We all looked up in surprise and saw a black pegasus circling above us.

"Did you call for reinforcements?" Horus questioned me.

"No, I did," Zeus said smugly. "You forgot that a god can communicate through dreams."

My friends and I grinned at each other. Maybe we would still make it!

The pegasus dove to the ground and deposited two people: Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Percy took the cap off a pen and a bronze sword grew in his hand. Annabeth drew a foot long dagger and held up her shield.

"We're here to rescue you!" Percy said.

"Ah, the famous Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase," Isis said. "We've heard a lot about you."

"Yeah well you know, I've been a quest or two," Percy said casually.

"That's an understatement," Zeus mumbled.

Percy grinned at Horus and yelled. A huge wave of water erupted from the ocean, which was miles away, and sped towards us. I felt Horus freeze as a twenty-foot tall wall of water came crashing down on us. It didn't matter that we were on land, I still felt like I had fallen from my griffin into the ocean again. Water filled my lungs and I felt like I was drowning. Horus rushed from me and yet again ran into Zeus pole.

I burst through the water and gasped. Ben had gotten out of his pin and he and Dakota were fighting again. Archer had started banging away at Zeus's chains again, working on the second one. Tina was still frozen in her spell however, watching as Percy and Annabeth took on Isis. I ran over to Tina and stared at the spell around her. She was surrounded by a yellow circle that crackled with energy. I held my hand out and focused on it, taking it in. I don't know how, but my mind ran through thousands of different spells and finally stopped on one. The counterfeit spell came into my head instantly. I said the command word, and the circle vanished. Tina fell to her knees.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"No problem."

She smiled at me, but it quickly faded away to a look of shock. She was looking past me, over where Archer had been. I turned to look and felt a sob creep into my throat. Horus had snapped out of his daze and grabbed Archer. He held him to the ground, his sword aimed at his heart. Dakota next to him had somehow knocked Ben's sword away and held Ben in a choke hold.

"Stop fighting right now, or they die," Horus warned us.

Percy and Annabeth stopped their fighting.

"I'm going to say this once again," Horus said. "Give me Tamara and leave."

Percy took a small step forward, but Dakota noticed and wrapped his arm even tighter around Ben's throat.

Archer, on the ground, was looking at Ben, and I noticed that he was pointing as something. I followed his finger and saw that it was pointing at Horus's head. Of course! Ben was in a perfect position to kick Horus in the head. And all Archer had to do was pull Dakota's foot out from under him, and he would go down.

Ben got the message and kicked Horus's head. Horus flew off Archer and started coughing violently. We all watched has he went on his hands and knees, like he was going to throw up. Horus heaved, but vomit didn't come up. A dark-blue smoke did. It flowed out of Horus's mouth and floated up to Isis. The goddess sighed like this was just another thing she would have to deal with.

"What is that?" Annabeth questioned.

"A demon," Isis answered. "You didn't really think Horus could come up with the idea on his own to take Zeus now, did you?"

We all looked at her with confused looks on our faces. She sighed like we had no brains.

"Oh, come on! Horus was just happy right where he was on Egypt's throne. But I knew that there were other gods, other kings. So I started whispering into his ear, planting the idea that he should get rid of Zeus. Of course, he never knew it was me, he thought it was his own idea."

I felt my eyes widen with shock. So Horus really didn't want to kill Zeus! And when he had been fighting me, that hadn't really been him!

Horus groaned and looked up at Isis. "Why?" he asked. "Why did you do it?"

"Because _I_ want the power!" Isis exclaimed. "I wanted the right to say that _I'm_ the queen of the gods! _All_ of the gods."

"I thought I could trust you," Horus said regretfully. "Now, I banish you from my courts!"

Isis smiled sweetly. "If you insist. But be forewarned: I'll come back!" she smiled cruelly at all of us and then disappeared in a flash of rainbow colors.

I turned and looked at my father. He was staring at me, asking for forgiveness. I ran up to him and tackled him with a hug.

"Tamara, if I had known. . . ." Horus choked out.

"It's okay," I whispered.

Horus held me tightly, and I felt tears flow out of my eyes. This felt good, having my father hug me.

"Well, that's all touching and all," Zeus said. "but could you please release me?"

"Oh, right!" Archer said. He took his knife and struck the chains. A huge boom followed, and we felt a ripple of power go through the air.

Zeus got up and stretched his arms. Above us, dark storm clouds appeared and lightning flashed.

"Ah, it's good to be free!" Zeus said. "Now I know how Hera felt when those giants captured her."

"Giants?" I asked.

Zeus waved his hand. "A whole other story that Percy and Annabeth can give great details about." Zeus walked up to Archer and clapped him on the shoulder. "Archer Mason, you have done well. I think when you get back to your camp, you will find a new bow waiting for you."

Archer grinned and bowed his head.

Zeus walked up to Tina and stared at her. "Yet again another child of Poseidon in need of praise." He shot a look at Percy, who shrugged innocently.

Zeus snapped his fingers and out of the air popped an envelope. He handed it to her and said, "I believe this will answer some of your questions."

Tina took it with shaking hands, like it contained her death sentence.

Zeus looked at Ben and nodded. "Ben Troy, son of Mars. I understand it that you kept going on your quest even after you lost your companions, am I correct?"

Ben nodded.

Zeus flickered and his appearance changed. He was taller and leaner, his hair shorter, and he had a purple cape on his back. Ben knelt before him and said, "Lord Jupiter."

Jupiter nodded. "You will find a reward at Camp Jupiter when you return. A gift from your father. Mars chose well when he blessed you."

Ben rose and nodded at Jupiter.

Beside Ben, Dakota was on the ground. I hadn't noticed before, but it looked like he had been passed out. He sat up groggily and shook his head. His eyes finally settled on me and he asked, "What happened?"

"You joined Horus and Isis," I said. "You betrayed us, your friends, for that evil witch of a goddess."

"I did what?" Dakota cried, alarm coursing through his body.

"I believe," Horus interjected. "that my mother may have corrupted you and used you against your friends. She tends to do that to people," he said grimly.

Zeus nodded, apparently accepting the story. I couldn't imagine what he would do to Dakota if he had turned against his group.

Zeus's gaze finally rested on me and he gave me a small smile. "You look so much like your mother, Tamara. I regret not claiming her when she was alive. I've been a terrible father to most of my children. You are special, Tamara. You combine the Egyptian world and the Greek world together. You have great things in your future."

I smiled at my grandfather. He waved his hand over my head and a blue light surrounded me.

"The blessing of Zeus," Annabeth murmured. "The only child who has received that. . . ."

"Was my son, Hercules. Yes," Zeus said.

I felt power rushing through me. I backed away from everyone and raised my sword. Lightning flashed across the sky.

"Oh great," Dakota joked. "More powers she's going to have to control."

Zeus and Horus looked at each other. We all stood still as the two king gods looked each other in the eye. The air was so tense between them, like they were holding back the urge to attack one another. Finally, they both nodded and broke their eye contact.

"Alright!" Zeus said. "I believe it's time you all returned to Camp Half-Blood!" He held his hand out, a bolt of lightning struck the ground around us, and a huge explosion followed.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

I got the sensation that I was flying through nothing. Literally, I was floating into nothing. All around me was whiteness. My stomach felt like it had been left behind and my heart was in my throat. What had Zeus done to us?

The next thing I knew, an image started coming into focus. Four stone pillars and a lot of wooden tables. I was in Camp Half-Blood's mess hall. My friends and I were standing in the middle of the room, hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at us with shock. Apparently, we had ruined dinner.

Chiron trotted over to us. "You're all back! And you've brought a friend," he noticed.

I looked over at Ben, who was staring at his feet shyly.

"Did you do it?" Chiron pressed. "Have you freed Zeus?"

I smiled at my friends and we all sighed with relief.

"Yeah, we did it," I confirmed. "We freed the lord of the sky."

Applause erupted all around us. People stood up from their seats and whistled and cheered. Before I knew it, demigods had rushed forward and put us on their shoulders. They carried us down to the amphitheater, where a twenty-foot tall bonfire was burning bright yellow. Everyone chanted our names and set us down, demanding a speech.

"Okay, okay!" Archer cried, holding up his hands. "I'll speak! I know I'm the one you all want to hear from!" He looked back at us and winked.

Everyone laughed, but quickly went silent, waiting for us to talk. I finally cleared my throat and began the story. We all took turns recounting our journey. Everyone erupted in laughter when Tina told the story of the sirens and Hades's golden toilet. And when Dakota and I talked about Petsuchos, everyone sat there with stunned faces, staring at my wrapped up leg.

Finally, we got to the part where we found out Horus had taken Zeus. Everyone was silent, staring at me.

"Your father tried to kill you?" someone asked in disbelief.

"He almost did, but then Percy and Annabeth came to the rescue."

"Glad to be at your service," Percy said, saluting us.

Everyone laughed.

"It turned out that Isis was the one behind it all," Dakota said. He had gone very quiet at this part of the story, undoubtedly feeling guilt that he had fought us, even against his own will.

"Isis planted a demon in Horus, which gave him the idea to take Zeus and then fight us," Tina said. "Ben here managed to kick it out of his head, and Horus banished Isis."

Everyone sat there in silence. I think they had been expecting someone or something Greek to have taken Zeus. They had not expected Egyptian gods.

"So, is she like, gone?" a girl asked quietly.

"No. She's still out there, plotting revenge," I said. The thought of it scared me. Isis was very powerful and _very_ angry.

Chiron cleared his throat next to us. "Well, at least she's gone for the time being, and we have our sky god back."

Above us, lightning flashed and I grinned. Zeus had been listening the whole time.

"Now, I think it's time we have a sing-a-long," Chiron said.

The Apollo cabin pulled out guitars, lyres, maracas, and a ton of other different instruments and started jamming. I sat down in a seat and clapped along with everyone else, when someone whispered in my ear, "Do you want to go for a walk by the beach?"

Ben.

I nodded and followed him away from the firelight and singing. Now that the hectic past couple of days were behind us, and we didn't have to worry about fighting monsters and gods, I could relax and focus on my growing feelings towards Ben.

We walked down to the beach in silence. The moon was full and it lit up the ocean. It felt so calm and peaceful, and was a nice reprieve from the week's chaos.

We walked along the shore, letting the water run over our bare feet. Ben casually reached for my hand and we interlaced our fingers.

"So, when are you going back to Camp Jupiter?" I asked him. My heart fell a little at the thought of him leaving.

"I was thinking tomorrow morning. I wasn't supposed to return until then anyway, and I'm sure the camp knows by now that we succeeded." He stopped walking and turned to look at me. He gazed into my eyes and said, "I want you to come with me."

I pulled my head back in shock. He wanted me to go back to him? To see his camp? I wasn't even Roman, yet he wanted to share his world with me. But I knew I couldn't go.

"I can't, Ben. I'm not Roman. And I belong with the Egyptians. I—" I was silenced as his lips pressing against mine. A warm feeling spread from my lips all the way to my toes, and I had the sensation that I was floating.

Ben pulled away and smiled at me. I knew I had a huge, goofy grin on my face, but I didn't care.

"So, you choose him," Dakota's voice said with a tight voice.

I turned with wide-eyes. He was standing a few feet away from us, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Dakota, I—"

"Save it, Tamara. I should have guessed. I was just coming to tell you that Sadie and Carter want to meet us here in the morning." He turned on his heel and walked away angrily.

"Dakota!" I shouted after him.

Ben looked down at me. "Do you need to go talk to him?"

I looked at him and then back at Dakota. "No, I don't think that would be a good idea, but thanks."

We continued our walk and talked for about another two hours before heading up to the Big House. Chiron had rooms ready for us and Ben walked me to mine. He kissed me goodnight before turning his back and walking downstairs. I walked into my room, but I didn't register anything about it. I was buzzing with excitement, and worry. Ben had asked me to be his girlfriend, which I had accepted without any hesitation. But Dakota's hurt face clouded my thoughts. I had hurt him, badly. I hadn't meant to though, but I only saw him as a friend.

Finally, I couldn't stay awake any longer. The stress of our quest had finally caught up with me, and I collapsed on my bed, falling asleep and dreaming about Ben.

The next morning, I was walking down by the beach, waiting for Sadie and Carter. I had had a peaceful morning, which was such a change after being on a quest. When I had woken up, I had quickly gotten ready and rushed down to the mess hall, hoping to see Ben. He hadn't been there though. I had figured he was probably still sleeping, recovering from our exhausting adventure.

During breakfast, Tina had rushed up to me and yanked me away from my table. Buzzing with uncontainable excitement, she had pulled me off to the side and reported, "He kissed me! Archer kissed me last night!"

I had jumped in on her excitement, asking her details and then reporting that Ben had kissed me as well. We had spent the rest of breakfast eating under a tree near the forest and going into great details about our nights.

Now I was walking on the beach, waiting for the Kanes and Dakota. I hadn't seen him at all this morning, and it worried me. Was he in his room, refusing to meet me because I had hurt him? The thought made my heart ache.

I was looking out at the ocean, contemplating as to whether or not I should go search for Dakota, when the air shimmered in front of me. I jumped back as Sadie and Carter shot through a portal and landed in the sand in front of me.

"Sadie! Carter!" I cried. I ran up and gave them both a hug.

"Hello, Tamara!" Sadie greeted back.

Carter smiled at me and looked around. "Where's Dakota?"

"Um . . . I'm not sure. We kind of had a fight last night, and I haven't seen him since."

Sadie raised an eyebrow. I gave her a I'll-tell-you-later-look.

"Well, while we're waiting, tell us about your quest."

I nodded and was about to tell them the story, when Tina ran up to me, crying.

"Tina! Tina, what happened?"

She looked at me and sobbed. "Archer, Ben. Tamara, they're gone."

"What? What do you mean gone?"

"I went to Archer's cabin to look for him, but he wasn't there. Instead, I found a note. Tamara, Archer and Ben have been kidnapped, and Dakota took them."

 **END OF BOOK ONE**


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